"Billy loved being on camera. He loved making money for the companies that hired him," Sullivan said. "He'd roll over in his grave if the ads were being pulled off the air."
Sullivan and Mays have been responsible for more than $1 billion in combined sales, according to Fortune magazine. The pair's business exploits are documented in the Discovery Channel series "Pitchmen." Sullivan anticipates that the business will take a hit without Mays.
In his last commercial, for the Media Enterprises household product Mighty Tape, Mays is seen in his signature royal blue shirt and khaki pants, demonstrating the product on a leaking kitchen drain pipe.
"Just stretch, wrap and it fuses fast," he says in the commercial.
Mays is later seen underwater -- still in his trademark outfit, with the addition of scuba gear -- as he repairs a hole in another diver's air hose with Mighty Tape.
Showmanship like that is hard to come by. But Sullivan says he will continue Mays' legacy, even if he has to get in front of the camera himself.
"There will never be another Billy Mays," he said, choking back tears. "He's an American original. But business must go on. Billy would want it that way."
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william.hennigan@latimes.com
