Beloved Vern Fonk pitchman dies

Robert Thielke, who became one of the most recognizable faces on Seattle television with parody commercials that reminded people to honk when they drove by Vern Fonk Insurance, died Sunday.

The cause was cancer, his brother said. Thielke was 50.

In the 1990s, Thielke became the face of the high-risk and DUI insurer known for late-night ads. Over the next two decades, he became one of the most beloved figures on Northwest television – as much as car smashing salesman Dick Balch in the 1970s or appliance pitchman Jack Roberts in the 1980s.
 
One of Thielke's first ads was a "Forrest Gump" parody. There was the "Napoleon Dynamite" one, the "Back to The Future" parody, the one modeled after Sham Wow, and "Fonk Vision" at a bikini barista stand where Thielke served customers in a pink top.

Don't forget the Austin Powers parody, the "Star Wars" and "Sopranos" spoofs, the hair removal ad, the scary clown spot, the crash test dummies parody, or the annual holiday message. One of Thielke's favorites was the spot where he parodied Brad Pitt's cologne ad.

"Rob just loved doing it," his younger brother, Joel Thielke said. "He loved insurance, but he loved shooting those commercials. And you could just tell his heart was in every shot."
 
There was the country dance spot that tallied more than 345,000 views on YouTube. The catch phrase in that ad, Shapoopi, adorned T-shirts sold on the Vern Fonk website.

And thousands of people still honk when they drive by Vern Fonk.
 
"I swear to God, it happens all the time," said Joel Thielke, who first wrote that line in the mid-1990s. "It's constant."

Though many presumed he was Vern Fonk, Thielke wasn't the man behind the insurance company. It was started in 1952, and the namesake died at age 75 in May 2006.

Thielke grew up in Totem Lake, where he was a 1983 graduate of Juanita High School. His parents owned the 7-Eleven on Stone Way North in Fremont, and Fonk's former office was next door. He'd come buy cigarettes from Thielke and ask: Why aren't you selling insurance for me?
 
So he did in 1989.
 
"It basically started out, I was just being goofy, silly in the office all the time," Thielke told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 2007. "Vern says, 'Hey, I want you to go do some TV ads.'"

The initial ads were made for a couple thousand dollars. The budgets grew, but "I think we always sort of enjoyed that cheap quality to it," Joel Thielke said. "We wanted to keep that homey, local television feel."
 
When the brothers would go to Seahawks or Mariners games, dozens of fans recognized him from the ads. There was even the time they were in the Hollywood Hills and two young women ran over wanting to meet the man they thought was Vern Fonk.
 
"Vern was a real mentor to him, and that's why he was always honored to get called Vern," Joel Thielke said.
 
There were disgruntled viewers who would email their complaints. Thielke loved those too and shared them around the office. He often wrote them back and tried to playfully engage.
 
"Rob loved to be politically incorrect," his younger brother said.
 
While Vern Fonk was what Thielke was best known for, it wasn't what was most important.
 
Thielke spent hundreds of dollars on clothes and backpacks for kids who were abused, and donated time to Hand In Hand, an Everett nonprofit emergency shelter that helps kids transition into foster homes.
 
The shelter was also supported by Thielke's family who survives him: his mother, Carol, his sister, Lynne, his wife, Kathy, and his five children: Robert, Annaleah, Violet, Rita and Jenelle.
 
Thielke beat colon cancer nine years ago and had been fine for years, which is why his terminal cancer diagnosis in April was so shocking, his brother said.
 
Shortly before he died, Thielke asked his family that donations be made to Hand In Hand in lieu of flowers.
 
"While Vern Fonk was one whole, total part of his life, he had wanted to be known as a good father," Joel Thielke said. "He was a pretty gentle guy. He wasn't the wacky guy you saw on TV.
 
"He was just kind of an everyday guy, and he liked that."