Posted on 06/28/2009 10:13:41 AM PDT by JoeProBono
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY Billy Mays, best known for his high-energy infomercials, has died at the age of 50.
Police have confirmed that he died Sunday morning. He was found at home by his wife at 7:45 a.m.
Police said there was no sign of a break-in, and they do not suspect foul play.
The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.
Mays became famous for his amped-up infomercials and spots on the Home Shopping Network. His ads featured him shouting about the virtues of products like OxiClean and Orange Glo while demonstrating their efficacy.
Most recently, he teamed up with fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan for the Discovery Channel documentary "Pitchmen."
Mays was a passenger on the US Airways 737 aircraft that took a hard landing at Tampa International Airport on Saturday, an airport spokesperson has confirmed.
Mays posted about the incident to his Twitter account.
"Just had a close call landing in Tampa," he wrote. "The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."
Officials have not said if his death is connected to that incident.
Mays' wife, Deborah, released a statement Sunday.
"Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."
Mays' son, Billy, posted to his Twitter account Sunday morning.
"My dad didn't wake up this morning.. I'm sure you'll all hear about it. It hasn't yet hit me but it's about to."
>>Apart from the roughness of the landing, could it have been deep vein thrombosis? Just brainstorming. <<
Anything is possible — at least he didn’t have his drug-dispensing doctor there so we can rule that out (the doctor part).
But in these cases Occam’s Razor usually applies.
The impact from the rough landing created a plaque rupture in one of his coronary arteries? Then later died in his sleep from a heart attack?
It’s up on Drudge now. He sure took his time.
Whoops — looks like there might be a link:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281250/posts
In a nutshell, Billy wasn’t wearing his seatbelt when the emergency landing occurred and hit his head on the seat in front of him.
Yeah, I'm a fan of common decency.
This is scary. People hit their head all the time. Who knows how much is too much?
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