Vern Fonk
{{short description|American businessman}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Vernon L. Fonk
|birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1930|06|05}}
|birth_place = Plentywood, Montana, U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2006|05|22|1930|06|05}}
|death_place = Edmonds, Washington, U.S.
|spouse = Jerroldine Fonk
|children = 3
|known_for = Founding Vern Fonk Insurance
}}
Vernon L. Fonk (June 5, 1930 – May 22, 2006){{cite news|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/heraldnet/obituary.aspx?pid=17974865 |title=Vernon Fonk Obituary - EDMONDS, WA The Herald (Everett)|date=2006-06-09|publisher=The Herald (Everett) |accessdate=2018-03-15}} was a Seattle entrepreneur best known for founding Vern Fonk Insurance, a high-risk auto insurance agency with seventeen offices, servicing Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Career
Vern Fonk Insurance is well known in the Pacific Northwest region for its humorous and off-color television commercials, which generally appear on local late-night television and have run since 1994.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}}
After Fonk's retirement in 1995, Vern Fonk Insurance was owned by his son-in-law and daughter, Kevin and Rene Mulvaney, until they sold the business in 2010 to New York-based Confie Seguros as part of that company's plans to become the first nationwide insurance distribution company primarily dedicated to Hispanic consumers.{{cite news|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/vern-fonk-insurance-sold-to-new-york-insurer/ |title=Vern Fonk Insurance sold to New York insurer|date=2010-02-01|publisher= The Seattle Times |accessdate=2018-03-19}}
Death
Vernon died at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds, Washington, of a bacterial blood infection in 2006.{{cite news|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20060609/fonk09m/vern-fonks-insurance-ads-became-an-icon-in-seattle |title=Vern Fonk's insurance ads became an icon in Seattle|date=2006-06-09|publisher= The Seattle Times |access-date=2018-03-15}}
Legacy
Vern Fonk Insurance television commercials, which typically parody movies and TV shows as well as other Northwest personalities, were usually written by and starred Rob Thielke, manager of the Fonk agency office in Everett. Due to Thielke's prominence in the ads, he was commonly believed to be Fonk himself.{{cite web| url= https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/vern-fonk-pitchman-exec-robert-thielke-50-dies/ | title=Vern Fonk pitchman, exec Robert Thielke, 50, dies | publisher= The Seattle Times | date=18 August 2006 | accessdate=2018-03-15}} The company's slogan, “Remember to honk when you drive by Vern Fonk,” ends each commercial. KCPQ, a FOX television affiliate in Seattle, put together a collection of Vern Fonk bumpers for JOEtv.{{cite web| url= http://www.seattlepi.com/business/279887_vernfonk03.html | title= By night he's a wacko in TV ads | publisher= Seattle Post Intelligencer | date=3 August 2006 | accessdate= 2010-02-02}}
Thielke died August 16, 2015, after a long battle with cancer.{{cite news|title=Rob Thielke, president and recognizable face of Vern Fonk Insurance, dies|url=http://q13fox.com/2015/08/18/rob-thielke-president-and-recognizable-face-of-vern-fonk-insurance-dies/|accessdate=18 August 2015|agency=Q13 FOX News Staff|publisher=KCPQ Q13 FOX News|date=18 August 2015}}
References
External links
- [http://www.vernfonk.com/ Vern Fonk Insurance]
- [https://www.youtube.com/user/VernFonkCommercial Vern Fonk commercials]
- [https://www.youtube.com/user/VernFonkVision Vern Fonk Vision, JOEtv bumpers]
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Category:Deaths from sepsis in the United States
Category:American businesspeople in insurance
Category:Businesspeople from Seattle
Category:People from Sheridan County, Montana