'American Pickers' Star Was Bedridden Two Years Before His Death

More details are emerging about the final years of American Pickers star Frank Fritz, who died at age 60 on Sept. 30 two years after suffering a life-altering stroke. Unfortunately, he never fully recovered, and after several hospitalizations in 2022 and 2023 after suffering pneumonia and a seizure, he was left wheelchair-bound in a rehabilitation facility.

Fritz ultimately passed away in an Iowa hospice surrounded by loved ones, including his longtime friend and American Pickers co-host Mike Wolfe. Now, another friend of the History Channel star has opened up about his grueling recovery that apparently left him bedridden and without the will to live.

Jerry Gendreau is the owner of Hawg Dogs, a bar in Savanna, IL that housed Fritz's antique store, Frank Fritz Finds. "He felt really, really bad," Gendreau told the U.S. Sun. "You would go to see him in the nursing home and one-half of his body was completely done. He would lift his arm up and it would just drop. That’s got to be tough to be totally bedridden."

Gendreau said that Fritz would often become "frustrated" due to the fact that he had trouble expressing himself, though he had good days and bad days.

"I’ve seen this when people get tired, they get tired. I think if you don’t have the will to live, you won’t," he continued. "I think Frank could’ve lived a lot longer if the will to live would’ve been there."

However, Gendreau also has plenty of good memories about his friend, who he described as "truly the comedian who popped out with some of the weirdest and dumbest things that you just go, ‘Wow.'"

“Frank was pretty much a what you see is what you get guy. His faults were his faults. You can’t fault anybody for being what they are. He was a right is right and wrong is wrong kind of person," he added. "He made a mark on history."

Gendreau's words echo that of Wolfe, who penned a heartfelt tribute to Fritz the day after his passing.

"It’s with a broken heart that I share with all of you that Frank passed away last night," his co-star shared. "I’ve know Frank for more than half my life and what you’ve seen on TV has always been what I have seen, a dreamer who was just as sensitive as he was funny. The same off-camera as he was on, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of so many by just being himself."