Tampa police said Mr. Mays was found unresponsive by his wife yesterday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.

Investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department. The coroner's office expects to have an autopsy done by this afternoon.

Deborah Mays told investigators her husband had complained he didn't feel well before he went to bed some time after 10 Saturday night, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

"Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days," Deborah Mays said. "Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."

US Airways Group Inc. confirmed that Mr. Mays was among the passengers on a flight that made a rough landing Saturday afternoon at Tampa International Airport, leaving debris on the runway after blowing its front tires. Flight 1241 originated in Philadelphia.

Tampa Bay's Fox television affiliate interviewed Mr. Mays after the incident.

"All of a sudden as we hit, you know, it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping," MyFox Tampa Bay quoted him as saying. "It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

McElroy said linking Mr. Mays' death to the rough landing would "be speculation."

Born July 20, 1958, in McKees Rocks, Pa., William Mays honed his style demonstrating knives, mops, and other "as seen on TV" gadgets on Atlantic City's Boardwalk.

After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the 1990s, Mr. Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.

Commercials and infomercials followed, with the high-energy Mr. Mays showing how it is done while tossing out kitschy phrases like, "Long live your laundry!"

Recently, he was seen on commercials for a wide variety of products and was featured on the reality-TV show Pitchmen on the Discovery Channel, which follows Mr. Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs. He was also seen in ESPN ads.

"I don't take on a product unless I believe in it. I use everything that I sell," he told the Tampa Tribune in an April interview.

He liked to tell of giving bottles of OxiClean to the 300 guests at his wedding.

His ubiquitousness and in-your-face pitches won him fans. People lined up at his personal appearances for autographed photos, and strangers stopped him in airports.

"It is his persona against which all pitchmen will be measured now and in the future," said Bill McAlister, president of Media Enterprises, a Bensalem marketing firm for "As Seen on TV" products, such as Mighty Putty, pitched by Mr. Mays.