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=== Early work ===
After dropping out of college, Mays worked for his father's hazardous waste company before moving to [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], in 1983.<ref name="Fox Bio"/> On the Atlantic City boardwalk, Mays sold the Washmatik portable washing device to passersby,<ref name="TBBJ">{{cite news |first=G.G. |last=Rigsby |title= As seen on TV: Billy Mays hawks it all for a price| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2002/05/06/story8.html |newspaper=[[Tampa Bay Business Journal]] |date=May 3, 2002 |access-date=April 21, 2007}}</ref> along with other "[[As seen on TV|As Seen on TV]]" products.<ref name="Fox Bio"/> In Atlantic City, he was taught how to sell by the older salesmen, saying "I was taught to pitch by a lot of old pitchmen. That's the kind of style I have."<ref name="Fox Bio"/>
Mays then traveled to home shows, [[auto show]]s, and [[state fair]]s across the United States for a period of twelve years, selling various maintenance products and tools, including cleaning products and food choppers.<ref name="TBBJ"/>
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=== Television pitching ===
At a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home show in 1993, Mays struck up a friendship with rival salesman Max Appel, founder of Orange Glo International, a [[Denver]]-based manufacturer of cleaning products. He was then hired by the company to promote their line of cleaners, [[OxiClean]], Orange Clean, Orange Glo, and [[Church and Dwight|Kaboom]], on the [[Home Shopping Network]] in [[St. Petersburg, Florida]].<ref name="sptimes06">"Company sold, local pitchman keeps his job," ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'', July 24, 2006.</ref> That same year he also befriended another future pitchman, [[Anthony Sullivan (pitchman)|Anthony Sullivan]]. Customer response to Mays' sales pitches was enthusiastic, and sales sharply increased after his first day, although some reviews were poor. He was very well known for shouting during infomercials. For example, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' staff writer Frank Ahrens called him and other similar television salesmen "a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown".<ref name="WashingtonPost">{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49328-2004Sep25.html | newspaper=The Washington Post| date = September 26, 2004 | page = F01 | title = Miracle Infomercials— TV's Hard Sells Are a $256 Billion Business |last=Ahrens |first=F}}</ref>
In October 2000, Mays shot an infomercial for the then-three-year-old [[OxiClean]] corporation. He became a staple of the brand and the wider company, Orange Glo. Later on he appeared in Kaboom infomercials.
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On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays' wife found him unresponsive in his home in [[Tampa, Florida]].<ref name="Foxnews">[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529469,00.html RAW DATA: Chilling Billy Mays 911 Tape] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723073929/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529469,00.html |date=July 23, 2009 }}. ''[[Fox News]]''. Monday, June 28, 2009. Retrieved on June 28, 2009.</ref> He was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m., aged 50, appearing to have died sometime overnight.<ref name="foxnews" /><ref name="msnbc">{{cite news |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/31596003 |title=Cops: TV pitchman Billy Mays found dead |date=June 28, 2009 |access-date=June 28, 2009 |work=NBC News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> The [[Associated Press]] reported there were no indications that the house had been burglarized, and that police did not suspect foul play.<ref name="msnbc" /> Mays had told his wife the previous evening that he had felt unwell. Initially, there was incorrect speculation that he died from a head injury he experienced on a flight he had taken earlier in the day, in which the plane sustained a rough landing after blowing its tires.<ref name = FN2>{{cite news |url= http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529350,00.html |title= Did Rough Plane Landing Cause Mays' Death? |date= June 29, 2009 |agency = [[Associated Press]] |work= Fox News |access-date= August 8, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090804151707/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529350,00.html |archive-date= August 4, 2009 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>
After an initial [[autopsy]] on June 29, 2009, Vernard Adams, the [[Hillsborough County, Florida]], [[Coroner|medical examiner]], stated that Mays suffered from [[hypertensive heart disease]] and that heart disease was the likely cause of his death. According to a toxicology report released August 7, 2009, heart disease was the "primary cause of death" and [[cocaine]] was listed as a "contributory cause of death."<ref>{{cite news|title=Cocaine linked to Billy Mays death|work=The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer|publisher = CNN }}</ref><ref name="AP">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-08-07-billy-mays_N.htm|title=Autopsy: Cocaine contributed to Billy Mays' death|date=August 7, 2009|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=July 9, 2012}}</ref> In response to the release of the toxicology report, the Mays family issued a press release stating, "We are extremely disappointed by the press release released by the Hillsborough County medical examiner's office. We believe it contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension" and said in the release that they were considering "an independent evaluation of the autopsy results".<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090807005720&newsLang=en |publisher=Businesswire.com |title=Statement from Billy Mays' Family In Response to Medical Examiner's Report|date=August 7, 2009|agency=RFB Communications Group|author=Deborah Mays}}</ref>
The medical examiner concluded that "cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release. The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of it when he died. Hillsborough County spokeswoman Lori Hudson said that nothing in the toxicology report indicated the frequency of Mays' cocaine use. Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause [[hypertrophy]] of the left ventricle, and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the release said. However, in October 2009, the results of a second medical examination, commissioned by Mays' family, concluded that cocaine was not a "significant contributing factor" to his death.<ref name="APsecondopinion">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-10-15-billy-mays_N.htm |title=Mays' family: Review finds no chronic cocaine use|agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=October 15, 2009 |newspaper=USA Today |access-date=August 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018140337/https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-10-15-billy-mays_N.htm|archive-date=October 18, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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