'Produce Pete,' longtime WNBC/4 personality, dies at 80

"Produce Pete" Napolitano — an inimitable presence on WNBC/4's air the last 30 years, as the station's resident prodder and poker of countless eggplants, cantaloupes and zucchinis — has died, Ch. 4 announced late Monday. Napolitano, who was 80, died after a short illness. His family did not release a cause of death.

With silver hair swept back, a rotund face, and as local TV's emissary of quite possibly the most perfect North Jersey accent  since "The Sopranos," Napolitano taught three generations of viewers how to select (prepare and cook) every vegetable under the sun, or at least those in season. He'd been a steady Saturday morning presence on Ch. 4's "Today in New York" since 1992, which made him the Eminence Gris of the station's personalities. His three-minute Saturday 9 a.m. (sometimes 9:15) segment was among the longest-running on all of New York television.

A typical "Produce Pete" segment — the last one appeared on the Jan. 17 edition and was about mandarins — would be characterized by a kind of discursive bob-and-weave, where he'd mix facts about vegetables, with observations about prices, family memories, his wife Bette's thoughts on said piece of produce, alongside his own childhood memories. "Broccoli rabe grows all over the country," began one such segment from a few years back. "People always ask me about fluctuating prices [but] when you buy it, you want to see these heads here — they should be open, and look at the shooters there! What mom used to do [is] you'd get it home and she'd put it in the refrigerator, or maybe with a little ice. Produce is made to be eaten, not stored. I like rabe ..."

Martha Stewart he was not.

In his 2023 memoir, "They Call Me Produce Pete," he wrote that "among the questions I hear most often, people always want to know how I've lasted this long on TV, a medium well-known for being fast-paced, fickle and ever-changing."

Well, he answered, "I think it's a combination of things." Food, he wrote, was up there at the top of the list. "Food has an undeniable way of triggering memories," and "I've found that sharing these personal stories during my segments reminds people of simpler times, perhaps similar experiences from their own childhood."

He added, "it's the stories and the nostalgia that people love to hear."

Produce Pete relayed those many stories with a nasal twang and almost effortless manner that evoked a sense in viewers of someone they thought they knew — or wished they had. On the air, he seemed approachable — quite possibly the rarest quality of any TV performer — and, rarer still, he also seemed genuine.

His close friend, and longtime writing partner, Susan Bloom, said in a phone interview Tuesday that his death is "a huge loss ... he was just one of the last nice things that was left on television. He was comfort food for so many people in our area."

She added that "he got so many people to eat fruits and vegetables, and to appreciate the local farmer. There was so much emphasis on going back to basics — keeping it simple, and supporting that local farmer because once they're gone and sold to a developer they're never going back."

While longtime viewers knew well the particulars of his life story — they effectively filled every show --- it invariably began with his immigrant parents. His father sold, or "peddled," produce in and around Bergenfield, N.J. where he was born and where his family lived. Pete would accompany him on his forays, traveling door to door. Eventually the family opened Napolitano's Produce Store, which remained in business from 1959 to 2006.

It was at this store where Produce Pete was "discovered" — by a WOR/9 (now WWOR) reporter who wanted him to appear. He declined but the reporter was persistent, and so was his wife, who wanted him to get on TV. He finally did, for the station's program, "People Are Talking," about a Chilean grape scare.

Some grapes had reportedly been tainted with cyanide. "Produce Pete" ate one on the air. A star was born. The station hired him in 1989, and he joined Ch. 4 a few years later.

He explained his new career this way, on an appearance on "Today" last year:

"I come from immigrant people. My father came here from Italy. No education, no nothing. And then, you know, I got lucky 35 years ago when someone was in my store and put me on a local show."

"He was a beloved member of our station family and our viewers felt the same way," said Amy Morris, news chief for Ch. 4 and Telemundo 47, in a statement.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Bette, two children, Cheryl and Peter Jr., and seven grandchildren.