Peter Napolitano, a fruit and vegetable maven who gained unexpected fame by genially dispensing advice about everything from apples to zucchini on a New York television station for more than 30 years under the name “Produce Pete,” died on Monday in Paramus, N.J. He was 80.
His son, Peter, confirmed the death, at a hospital, but did not specify the cause.
When it came to fruits and vegetables, Mr. Napolitano was the real thing: He owned and ran a produce store in Bergenfield, in North Jersey, for many years. He became “Produce Pete” in the early 1990s, when he began appearing on the WNBC-TV news program “Weekend Today in New York,” delivering segments on Saturday mornings from the station’s Manhattan studio, as well as from farms, restaurants, pumpkin patches and corn fields.
In his friendly, unpolished style, he taught viewers how to tell, for example, when pineapples from Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic were ripe (by their changing colors); how to properly carry a pumpkin (from the bottom); and how to appreciate odd-shaped Jersey tomatoes for their exceptional taste.
“My father, God rest his soul, that’s what he looked for, he looked for the odd-shaped tomatoes,” Mr. Napolitano said in a segment last October.
On the air, he often mentioned his father, an Italian American immigrant who started the family’s fruit and vegetable business. And he often cited his mother for her recipes.
One familiar piece of advice was that a fruit or vegetable had to feel “heavy in the hand” to be worth eating. “If it feels like you’re holding a piece of paper,” Pat Battle, a WNBC anchor, said in an interview, imitating Mr. Napolitano’s Jersey accent, “it ain’t good inside.”
One of Mr. Napolitano’s fans was Tina Fey, who raved about him on the “Good Hang With Amy Poehler” podcast last year. She subsequently met him during a segment of “The Today Show.”
“You’re my Beyoncé,” Ms. Fey told him.
In 2004, Mr. Napolitano was in the green room of the ABC daytime talk show “The View,” waiting to go on the air, when the actor Harrison Ford shouted, “Hey, Produce Pete!” Mr. Napolitano replied, “‘I know you but how the hell do you know me?’”
Mr. Napolitano achieved enough celebrity to warrant an autobiography, “They Call Me Produce Pete” (2023, with Susan Bloom). He also wrote, “Produce Pete’s Farmacopeia: From Apples to Zucchini, and Everything in Between” (1994), a guide to choosing and preparing vegetables; and the cookbook “In the Kitchen With Bette & Produce Pete” (2025, with his wife, Bette Napolitano, and Ms. Bloom).
Another measure of his fame came on “The Daily Show,” when he was parodied by Steve Carell. In the segment, Mr. Carell opened a jar of kimchi, the Korean fermented vegetable dish, then backed away from its pungent odor. “It’s a delicious dish for outdoor meals or well-ventilated dining rooms,” he said, then shouted, “Is my nose bleeding?”
Peter James Napolitano Jr., was born on Feb. 23, 1945, in Englewood, N.J. His father, the youngest of 20 children, had immigrated from the Campania region of southern Italy, with Naples at its center. His mother was Louise (Morrissey) Napolitano.
Peter began to peddle produce from a wholesaler door to door for his father at age 5. He was eventually joined on his rounds by his younger brother, David.
“Pop filled the truck with seasonal items — tomatoes, peaches and watermelon in the summer, apples in the fall, etc.,” Mr. Napolitano wrote in his autobiography, “and us kids would knock on a door, and say, ‘Hey, lady, want to buy a tomato?’”
In the mid-1950s, his parents began selling watermelons from an empty lot in Bergenfield, and they opened a store, Napolitano’s Produce, also in Bergenfield, in 1959. Mr. Napolitano took over the store in 1970, when his parents moved to Florida.
His produce punditry began in 1989, after getting a phone call from “People Are Talking,” a daily talk show on WWOR-TV in New York, asking him to discuss health concerns about contaminated Chilean grapes.
Nervously, he accepted the invitation, but he did well enough to be asked to return to the show (and its successor regularly for three years as “Pete Your Produce Pal”).
He joined WNBC in 1992 as simply “Produce Pete.”
Mr. Napolitano retired from the store in 1997, giving it to his son, who closed it in 2006. He went on to work as a broker and buyer for a produce wholesaler in the Bronx for about 20 years and continued his television work and making personal appearances until last year.
In addition to his son, Mr. Napolitano, who lived in North Haledon, N.J., is survived by his wife, Elizabeth (Donaldson) Napolitano, who was known as Bette; a daughter, Cheryl Napolitano Hartman; his brother, David; a sister, Luanne Napolitano; and seven grandchildren.
Ms. Battle, the WNBC anchor, said Mr. Napolitano had a gift for connecting easily with people wherever he went.
“It was all about family with Pete,” she said. “Telling us about broccoli or spinach or watermelon was one thing, but he always included these anecdotes about his family that drew people to him. He was so authentic and genuine.”
Richard Sandomir, an obituaries reporter, has been writing for The Times for more than three decades.
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