Billy Mays: Cocaine contributed to his death - Autopsy

Autopsy: Cocaine contributed to Billy Mays’ death

TAMPA, Fla. — An autopsy shows that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed boisterous TV pitchman Billy Mays in June, officials announced Friday.

The famous 50-year bearded TV personality, Billy Mays, died of a heart attack in his sleep after going to bed at his Tampa condo the night of June 27. His wife found him unresponsive the next morning.

The Hillsborough County medical examiner’s office Friday said Mays had last used cocaine days before his death. The report said that although Billy Mays died from heart disease, cocaine use was a contributing cause of death.

Billy Mays was a pop-culture fixture with his energetic commercials pitching gadgets and cleaning products like Orange Glo and OxiClean.

The McKees Rocks, Pa., native developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other “As Seen on TV” gadgets on Atlantic City’s boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

Billy Mays got his start on TV on the Home Shopping Network and then branched out into commercials and infomercials. He developed such a strong following that he became the subject of a reality TV series, Discovery Channel’s “Pitchmen.”

References to television pitchman Bill Mays’ trademark image were everywhere at his funeral Friday near Pittsburgh.

Most mourners wore stickers showing a cartoon image of his distinctive bearded face. The six pallbearers eschewed suits and instead wore bright blue button-down shirts like the ones Mays wore on TV. At the conclusion of the ceremony, they gave a “thumbs up,” just as Mays did at the end of one of his commercials.

Mays, whose high-energy hawking turned products like OxiClean from infomercial curiosities into mainstream successes, was remembered as a pop culture icon who never forgot his hometown or spiritual roots.

“He sold more OxiClean than Andy Warhol sold Campbell’s Soup,” cousin Dean Panizzi said in eulogizing Mays and comparing him to the Pittsburgh-born pop artist who turned soup cans into works of art.

Source: Billy Mays remembered as natural seller

Billy Mays, Cocaine may have killed you but you will always be remembered as one of the biggest salesman there ever was.