American pitchman Billy Mays dies at age 50

June 28, 2009 American pitchman and advertiser Billy Mays has died at the age of 50. Mays was probably most known for his pitching of the multipurpose cleaning product OxiClean.

According to reports, Mays' wife, Deborah, found him unresponsive Sunday morning in their home located in Tampa, Florida. Fire-rescue crews pronounced him dead at 7:45am EDT. The cause of death was heart disease.

According to reports, he was a passenger on U.S. Airways Flight 1241, a flight to Tampa from Philadelphia, that suffered a tire blowout upon landing on Saturday night. He was quoted as saying objects from the overhead compartments hit him in the head, but he did not seek medical treatment. Nobody was reported injured in the incident. Deborah said he did not feel well when he went to bed at around 10:00pm EDT the previous night.

An autopsy is expected to be completed by Monday afternoon.

"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," said Deborah Mays in a statement to the press.

Mays recently began co-starring in a television show on the Discovery Channel called Pitchmen. Mays, along with English advertiser Anthony Sullivan starred in the show where they would 'pitch' several products. By the end of the show, two inventors would be selected and be given a chance at selling their product "en masse".

Mays also pitched sales for several other products including furniture polish Orange Glo, Mighty Putty, the Gopher, Zorbeez, and the cleaning product Kaboom!.