Bob Mills, the Oklahoma furniture pitchman who called himself "the working man's friend," dies at 79

OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 10) — Bob Mills, whose face and voice sold furniture to generations of Oklahomans on local TV, died Monday. He was 79.

His family announced his death on the company's Facebook page. No cause was given, and funeral plans haven't been set, KOCO reported.

Mills was 23 and working as an insurance typist when he borrowed $25,000 from his mother and opened his first store on July 3, 1971, in a former grocery building on SW 29th Street, according to The Oklahoman. The partner who talked him into it left, and by 1975 the staff was down to two people, the company said in a statement.

He kept at it. In 1973 he started a country music TV show to promote the store, and many of his employees played in the band. Mills, who studied music and business at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, billed himself as "the working man's friend," and his commercials were still on the air as recently as Sunday, The Oklahoman reported.

In the late 1980s the company moved into a 110,000-square-foot building on West Reno Avenue that's still its flagship store. Bob Mills Furniture now has 12 locations in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas and more than 400 employees, the company said in a statement shared by KCBD.

Born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, Mills moved to Oklahoma City as a boy and graduated from Putnam City High School. He supported the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, Allied Arts and Boys & Girls Clubs, among others.

He is survived by his wife, Margaret, and their children Bryan, Tuesday and Chris, who all work in the business. The family said the company will keep operating.