Ever since Season 4 of the A&E’s treasure-seeking series, Storage Wars has featured the locker-bidding pair of Rene and Casey Nezhoda, who became full-on regulars in Season 5. Over the years, the former would bring along his father, actor and musician Gunter Nezhoda, to some of the storage facility auctions. Unfortunately, the reality star shared the sad news with fans that the long-haired Austrian-born talent passed away this week at the age of 67.
Rene Nezhoda took to Instagram with his mournful announcement, taking the time to update fans purely out of appreciation for how kindly the fandom at large has treated him over the years. In his words:
Hey guys. This is a sad day, and this is a very hard video for me to make. I've made this video many times already, but I'm just going to say it the way I say it. My dad, six months ago, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He's been smoking for 30 years. Not the last time but he's been smoking for a long time. And last night he passed away in his sleep peacefully from complications from lung cancer. He had all kinds of holes in his lungs. There's nothing else the doctors could do.
According to TMZ, Nezhoda was diagnosed with lung cancer in September, and it was treatments from chemotherapy that caused holes to form in his lungs. The family flew him to Salt Lake City, Utah for emergency surgery, but things were sadly too far gone to reverse successfully. It's noted that the youngest son, Ricky, was at his side at the time of his passing.
In his social post, Rene Nezhada gave thanks to the show's fanbase for showing his dad such kindness over the years rather than following some of the negative trends other Storage Wars stars have faced. He continued:
I'm only making this video because a lot of you guys connected with my dad. You know, my dad was one of the guys on Storage Wars that never really get any hate. People just love being around him included the crew. Everybody loved working with him. I appreciate all the support. A lot of people that asked me how my dad is, but I just haven't really talked about anything because we kept it private. We thought he was going to fully recover, but unfortunately he didn't. He was 67 years old. And you know, all the love that you guys have shown him, he really appreciates that. So now hopefully he's up there in heaven with my mom, dancing again.
Nzhoda had appeared in a variety of episodes since 2015, and fans can relive all of and many more in a variety of different ways. All seasons are available to stream on A&E with a cable/satellite log-in, while select episodes are available to stream with a Hulu subscription, a Peacock subscription, a Disney+ subscription, or via Roku Channel.
We at CinemaBlend send our thoughts and condolences to the family and friends of Gunter Nezhoda during this period of mourning. It's always tough to lose a loved one, even if that loved one was celebrated by fans and friends.
