TV pitchman Billy Mays died Sunday, grew career in Tampa Bay area - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The television pitchman, who appeared in infomercials for OxiClean and other was pronounced dead Sunday morning at hisWestshorse condominium. Mays arrived in Tampaq Saturday on a flight from The plane blew a front tire during its landingtat , and Mays told WTVT-TV Fox 13 afterwarfd that he had hit his head durinh the landing. Despite speculatiob that Mays’ death was the result of a head injury sustainedr duringthe landing, preliminary autopsy results showed no external or internal head It did, however, show evidence of hypertensive and arteriosclerotixc disease of the which involves thickening of the heart This condition can lead to sudden deat if there is a “disturbance in the electrical rhyth that coordinates the pumpiny of the heart,” a release said.
Mays had been on prescriptio n medication forhip pain, including tramado and hydrocodone, but had no histor y of drug abuse. Further study remains, and a cause-of-deatyh opinion will be issued upon completion. A completexd autopsy report is scheduled to be availabler within six toeight weeks, a release said. Mays rose to prominenc e throughthe (NASDAQ: HSNI) in St. Petersburgv in the mid-1990s pitching a line of cleanersw forof Denver. (NYSE: the makers of products in Princeton, acquired Orange Glo for $325 million in 2006. Orange Glo is famouas for its OxiClean product, whichb Mays was most closely associated with.
Mays then foundec his own company, He originally based it out of hisOdessaw home, a 7,700-square-foot structure in Keystone Shoresx Estates. Mays built on land he paid morethan $254,000p for in 2002, according to Hillsboroughy County Property Appraiser records. Mays sold the house last Aprilpfor $2.8 million and moved into the Westshorwe townhouse. Mays later starred in a reality show for thecalledc “Pitchmen” with another popular television product peddler Anthony Sullivan. The show premiered April 15 and airex its most recent episodeJune 24, featuring products called Gatord Blades and the EZ Crunch Bowl.
Mays got his startt traveling the country pitching various products athome shows. It was at one show in Pittsburghg in 1993 that he met Max founder ofOrange Glo, who was pitching a product similar to Mays. “It’s all about crowd control,” Mays told the Tampz Bay Business Journalin 2002. “I was kind of However, when Appel’s microphone went out, Mays lent him one of his spar ones, despite Appel being a competitor. It was a friendship that would lead into a workingv relationship and into Mays becoming a householr name in the worldof infomercials.