Ron Popeil has died. Popeil was a pioneer in TV marketing and, to a lesser degree, the world kitchen-adjacent gadgetry. He is most well known as the founder of Ronco. The company that made As Seen On TV! a mantra for a new generation of TV pitchmen, Ronco. According to TMZ, Popeil passed away Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital after suffering a serious medical emergency on Tuesday. Popeil was 86.AdvertisementPopeil was born in New York in 1930s. He started his career at the Chicago-based Popeil Brothers manufacturing plant at the age of 17. Popeil worked under Samuel and helped to sell products such as his dad's Chop-O-Matic or Veg-O-Matic home food processors. He pitched them enthusiastically to a nation eager for their products. Popeil eventually found his true home when he was able to show the products. It took so many produce to show their quick-chopping action that it was difficult to carry them around person-to-person.Few men have ever matched, and shap ed, the spirit of a medium more thoroughly than Ron Popeil , whose big, wide smile and boundless enthusiasm could make anythingpocket-mounted fishing rods, in-egg egg scramblers, spray-on-hairseem like the solution to a problem his TV audiences had been completely unaware theyd had just moments before. Popeil founded Ronco in 1960s and spread his message across the airwaves. He also filled ad spots and made the infomercial an indispensable fixture of late-night TV. Popeil would often pitch his own inventions for products, but this didn't seem to matter to him. He would sell Mr. He sold a Ronco Record Vacuum or a Microphone with the conviction of a man who believed he was saving the planet from its worst ills. It is worth noting that these products were not jokes. The Smokeless Rotisserie (set-it and forget it!) sold 8 million units in the U.S. alone. This solidified Roncos fortunes over the years.Popeil sold the company to his son in 2005. By then, he was a household American god. He was immortalized in Saturday Night Live sketches and a million slice and dice it references. Also, a decent Weird A l Yankovic B-52s riff. Popeils and the company eventually went bankrupt, but their legacy and Popeilsremains secure in a million parodies, gags, and the vibe of any salesman that looks deeply into a camera and tells you that you really need the electric food drying machine they are selling.
