What does 的 do in "现在的Paul已经63岁了“? I was reading a text from The Chairman's Bao titled "Australian Boy Finds 56-year-old Message in a Bottle" and I came across the following sentence:


  现在的Paul已经63岁了


What does 的 do here? Could it be omitted? How's this construction called and where I could read more about it?
I remember when I first saw things like 小小的我， 年轻的他 it seemed strange. In English you can say:

poor little me

but normally, in English, we need a relative clause to describe Paul 'Paul, who ... '.

Paul put the message in a bottle as a boy. Now he is 63.

现年63岁的保罗对那一天记忆犹新。
Paul, who is now 63, remembers that day well.