NEED TO KNOW
- Beloved television personality Peter Napolitano has died after more than 30 years on air
- Napolitano, better known as “Produce Pete,” was 80
- NBC New York announced his death as tributes poured in on social media
Peter Napolitano, a beloved New York City television personality known as “Produce Pete,” has died after more than three decades on air. He was 80.
NBC New York announced Napolitano’s death on Monday, Jan. 26. The news station described him as “a member of our News 4 family” and “a longtime fixture of our weekend morning news.”
A cause of death has not been disclosed.
“For more than 30 years, WNBC viewers tuned in on Saturday mornings to watch ‘Produce Pete’ offer his fruit and vegetables recommendations as well as cooking tips on Weekend Today in New York,” Amy Morris, the Senior Vice President of News for NBC 4 New York and Telemundo 47, said in a statement.
“He was a beloved member of our station family and our viewers felt the same way — visiting him at our Health Expo, our Feeding our Families Food Drives or the many farmers markets across New Jersey where he always felt right at home,” Morris continued.
News of his passing quickly spread on social media, where fans expressed their condolences in the comments on his final Instagram post, published on Nov. 27, 2025.
“Thanks for the chill Saturday mornings learning about produce. Thanks for teaching us if we eat right we’re going to live right RIP Pete,” one person wrote.
“With all that’s going on in the world today, hearing of Produce Pete’s passing has hit really hard! It won’t be Saturday or Sunday morning without his smiling face,” another fan wrote. “To his family, thank you for sharing this wonderful man with the whole tri-state area and beyond. He will be sorely missed.”
The last photo Napolitano shared on social media showed him sitting at a table in a living room in front of a Christmas tree, slicing pomegranates. He wished his followers a happy Thanksgiving holiday and let them know what to expect for his segment for the coming weekend.
“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, a managing editor at NBC New York, wrote on X Monday. He included a photo of Nopalitano holding grapes.
The grocer and chef was born in 1945 in Bergenfield, N.J., according to his official website.
While Napolitano credited his family for helping him get his start, he explained that he wouldn’t have been the man he was without his mother.
“Produce Pete” said his father “was always in the produce business but really didn’t care much for it,” instead doing other jobs like working as “a butcher, truck driver, bar owner, and a bus driver.”
It was his mother who saw an empty lot and suggested her husband let her sell watermelons there to make extra money while he was on his bus routes.
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Napolitano, who was also a published author, said his mother sold out of watermelons two days in a row, and the rest was history.
“So when people always say to me, your father had a great business, I always thank them with a little smile, if it wasn’t for mom, who knows what would have been, Produce Pete may never have existed, Thanks Mom!!!” he wrote.
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