THE NEW YORK TIMES – Frank Fritz, a jocular Everyman who as one half of the duo behind the hit show “American Pickers” found ratings gold by unearthing fortunes in attics, basements and garage sales, died on Monday in Davenport, Iowa. He was 60.
His manager, Bill Stankey, confirmed the death, in a hospice. He said that the cause had not been announced, but that Mr. Fritz had been dealing with a number of health issues, including Crohn’s disease and the effects of a stroke in 2022.
Debuting on the History Channel in 2010, “American Pickers,” which Mr. Fritz hosted with his longtime friend Mike Wolfe, was part of a wave of reality TV shows that mined everyday Americana for stories, profit and no small amount of drama.
Unlike older, more sedate shows like public television’s “Antiques Roadshow,” “American Pickers” blended serious appraisal with rough-edged personality and quirky flair.
“We’re looking for people who don’t have a brand-new truck,” he told The New York Times in 2010. “People who don’t have a satellite dish.”
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Fans ate it up. By its fifth episode, “American Pickers” was the second-most-watched show on the History Channel, with an average 3.3 million viewers, just behind another show cast from the same mold, “Pawn Stars.”
Though Mr. Fritz owned his own antique store, Frank Fritz Finds, in Savanna, Ill., along the Mississippi River, the show revolved around two stores owned by Mr. Wolfe, both called Antique Archaeology, one in Le Claire, Iowa, and the other in Nashville.
Mr. Fritz appeared on the show through most of the 2020 season, then went conspicuously absent. It was not until almost a year later that Mr. Wolfe and the History Channel announced he would not be returning …