Billy Mays had heart disease
It may be weeks before it's known exactly how TV pitchman Billy Mays died.
The well-known informercial salesman was found dead at his Tampa home on Sunday.
Preliminary findings seem to point to heart disease as the cause of death.
Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams spoke with reporters Monday afternoon and said early speculation that Mays may have died as a result of a blow to the head during a rough landing at Tampa International Airport was ruled out. There was "no evidence...of head trauma," Dr. Adams said.
He also said there was no evidence that Mays died from a blood clot.
Dr. Adams said it was likely that death was sudden and that Mays probably died in his sleep. Adams said, "sudden death is not uncommon."
Mays was on several prescription medications, but Dr. Adams said there was no evidence of drug abuse.
He said there was evidence of hypertensive heart disease and muscular thickening of the heart wall.
Asked if this could be a classic case of someone who never saw it coming, Dr. Adams replied, "Yes."
A complete autopsy report, which will include toxicology tests, will be ready in 6 -10 weeks, according the the medical examiner's office.
Mays, known for his high-energy commericals and distinctive beard, was found dead by his wife in his Tampa home Sunday morning.
Tampa Fire Rescue units were called to his home in the 2800 block of Bowen Daniel Drive about 7:45 a.m. after his wife found the 50-year-old unresponsive and pronounced him dead at the scene.
No signs of forced entry to the home were found, and there were no apparent signs of foul play, according Lt Brian Dugan.
Mays' wife, Deborah, told investigators he didn't feel well before he went to bed that night around 10 p.m.
Earlier, Mays said he was hit on the head when the U.S. Airways jet he was on made a rough landing Saturday at Tampa International Airport.
He told WTVT that luggage came out of a storage bin as the plane landed.
"All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping," Mays said. "It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."
McElroy said any indication that Saturday's accident was linked to Mays' sudden death was "pure speculation." She said Mays' family members didn't report any health issues with the pitchman, but said he was due to have hip replacement surgery in coming weeks.
In a statement issued through Tampa Police on Monday, Mays' wife said "Billy would be overwhelmed to see that his life touched so many people in a positive way. The support we have received during this difficult time has been tremendous. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers. While it provides some closure to learn that heart disease took Billy from us, it certainly doesn't ease the enormous void that his death has created in our lives. As you can imagine, we are all devastated. We are asking that you respect our privacy as I will not be conducting any media interviews in the near future."
Mays' son, Billy Mays III, said Sunday on his Twitter account "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."
Later, Mays III said "I'm thankful I got to talk to my dad last night. I miss him immensely already. But I feel him with me."
Mays was one of 138 passengers on a U.S. Airways flight that made a hard landing on Saturday afternoon at Tampa International Airport after the plane's front tires blew as the plane touched down. No one was hurt.
Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays 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.
AJ Khubani, founder and CEO of "As Seen on TV," said he first met Mays in the early 1990s when Mays was still pitching one of his early products, the Shammy absorbent cloth, at a trade fair. He said he most recently worked with Mays on the reality TV show "Pitchmen" on the Discovery Channel, which follows Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs.
"His innovative role and impact on the growth and wide acceptance of direct response television cannot be overestimated or easily replaced; he was truly one of a kind," Khubani said of Mays in a statement.
After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.
Commercials and informercials followed, anchored by the high-energy Mays showing how it's done while tossing out kitschy phrases like, "Long live your laundry!"
Sarah Ellerstein worked closely with Mays when she was a buyer for the Home Shopping Network in the 1990s and he was pitching Orange Glo products.
"Billy was such a sweet guy, very lovable, very nice, always smiling, just a great, great guy," she said, adding that Mays met his future wife at the network. "Everybody thinks because he's loud and boisterous on the air that that's the way he is, but I always found him to be a quiet, down-to-earth person."
His ubiquitousness and thumbs-up, in-your-face pitches won Mays plenty of fans for his commercials on a wide variety of products. People lined up at his personal appearances for autographed color glossies, and strangers stopped him in airports to chat about the products.
"I enjoy what I do," Mays told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. "I think it shows."
Mays liked to tell the story of giving bottles of OxiClean to the 300 guests at his wedding, and doing his ad spiel ("powered by the air we breathe!") on the dance floor at the reception. Visitors to his house typically got bottles of cleaner and housekeeping tips.
As part of "Pitchmen," Mays and Sulli
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