-
Source: ONE News
Talkback radio personality Tim Bickerstaff was found dead in his Whitianga home on Saturday.
Halloween trick-or-treaters found the 67-year-old diabetic through a window, but when their door-knocking failed to rouse him, they entered the house and set off his medic alert bracelet, the New Zealand Herald reported.
He died of a massive heart attack, his men's health products company Herbal Ignite said on Monday.
Bickerstaff became known as an outspoken radio host and sports critic during 40 years on the airwaves.
He began his broadcasting career as a TV sports reporter with the New Zealand Broadcasting Service in Rotorua, Dunedin and Wellington.
He then worked for 3DB in Melbourne in the 1960s before he returned to Auckland with his young family and began broadcasting with Radio I.
Bickerstaff pioneered talkback on Sportsline with Geoff Sinclair on Radio 1 before moving onto more general talkback with his two hour Radio Pacific show.
He and wife Sue separated 15 years ago, and she and their children Scott and Brenda live in Queensland.
Bickerstaff began Herbal Ignite 13 years ago, and the company said it was Bickerstaff's willingness to be upfront and controversial about erectile dysfunction which led him to launch natural supplements and help other men talk about their health.