Rob Thielke, the TV pitchman and president of Seattle's Vern Fonk Insurance company, has died at the age of 50, the Seattle Times reported. Thielke, referred to locally as the "Vern Fonk guy," was known as the face behind the company's viral parody commercials.
Thielke passed away on Sunday at his home in Snohomish, Wash. after succumbing to a long battle with colon cancer. Born Robert Thielke, he moved with his family from California to Washington when he was three years old. After high school, he was hired at the Vern Fonk Insurance company in 1989, by founder Vern Fonk himself.
He worked his way up and became president of the company in 2013, local TV news station Q13 Fox reported. The company now boasts 23 locations in Washington and Oregon, but it's the Vern Fonk TV commercials that gained national attention.
Thielke parodied films like "Star Wars," celebrities like rapper Eminem and popular TV shows like "The X Factor" in TV ads for the high-risk insurance company. His videos were featured on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and MTV.
"Yeah, you want to do what people don't expect," Thielke said in a 2010 interview with Q13 Fox. "And you want to get out of the box, you don't wanna get boring but you also don't wanna go too far where the kids can't watch. So that's my standard, is [if] my kids can't watch it I'm not gonna shoot it."
Watch one of Thielke's parodies below.
