Infomercial icon Ron Popeil dies at 86
By Andrew Dalton and Ted Anthony, The Associated Press Troy Warren for CNT Ron Popeil, the quintessential TV pitchman and inventor known to generations of viewers for hawking products including the Veg-O-Matic, the Pocket Fisherman, Mr. Microphone and the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ, has died, his family said. Popeil died “suddenly and peacefully” Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family said in a statement. He was 86. No cause of death was given. Popeil essentially invented the popular image of the American television pitchman, whose novel products solved frustrating problems viewers didn't know they had. He popularized…