NJ’s Produce Pete has passed away

Even if you didn’t watch him much, you knew his name. At least his tv name.

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Produce Pete.

Pete Napolitano was a Jersey guy who grew up with a dad in the produce business. As a 5-year-old boy, he’d work with his father, knocking on doors peddling produce off his dad’s truck. He became an iconic grocer in Bergenfield and never dreamed of being a tv personality.

In fact, when a producer from WOR overheard him being personable with a customer at his shop and approached him about a possible job, he was completely uninterested. This woman from WOR called him nearly a dozen times trying to get him interested, and he said no every time.

It was only because his wife happened to answer the phone one day instead of him that he became a celebrity. The Irisher explained to his wife she’d been trying to get him to appear in their using, and his wife took the reins and insisted he do it.

The rest is history.

He would eventually work for WNBC, doing a weekly segment, and was called Produce Pete. He appeared on Saturday editions of “Weekend Today in New York” for over 30 years.

Now comes the sad news that Pete Napolitano has passed away at the age of 80.

“Sad news to share from the NBC New York family … Produce Pete has passed away at 80. His warmth, kindness, and love for his work will be missed by all of us,” Steven Bognar, the Managing Editor at WNBC-TV, announced on X Monday.

His father’s business, which started him down this path, was taken over by Pete in 1971, and he ran it for 27 years. In 1998, his own son took it over, but the family business closed for good in 2006.

Rest in peace, Pete.