The Storage Wars family sadly lost a fan favorite earlier this year. Gunter Nezhoda, the long-haired bassist and father of Rene Nezhoda, was a recurring bidder on several seasons on the A& staple. He died on March 21 after losing his battle with lung cancer. He was 67 years old.
Searching for the perfect abandoned storage locker to buy, the father and son duo occasionally served as a comedic force on select episodes between 2015 and 2019. Rene shared the news of his dad’s passing on Instagram the day after. Admitting it took several attempts to make the “hard” video, the teary-eyed treasure hunter revealed that Gunter was diagnosed with lung cancer six months prior. Gunter had smoked for 30 years, Rene said, but had stopped in the last 10.
“Last night he passed away in his sleep peacefully from complications from lung cancer,” Rene said. “He had all kinds of holes in his lungs — there was nothing else the doctors could do. I’m only making this video because a lot of you people connected with my dad. You know, my dad was one of the guys on Storage Wars that never really got any hate. People just loved being around him, including the crew, including everybody — everybody loved working with my dad.”
Rene said that he and his family had remained quiet about Gunter’s health status because they were optimistic that he’d recover.
Gunter was an actor, photographer and musician
According to his IMDB page, Gunter was born in January 1965 in Vienna, Austria. He was also a resident of Frankfurt, Germany, before moving across the pond to Las Vegas. He worked as an actor, appearing in movies The Hunting at Death Valley Junction, Do Not Disturb, Astro Zombies: M4 – Invaders from Cyberspace, and I Am Here… Now. He was featured in the short Ice Princess as well. Gunter played bass alongside names like Pat Travers, George Lynch, and Michael Schenker, his bio reads.
Gunter also had a YouTube channel with 80 videos. They range from him unboxing contents from storage lockers, to winning online poker matches. “RERUN: Go used car shopping with Gunter Nezhoda from Storage Wars” was posted in February 2022, which was his last upload on the channel. A man of many talents, Gunter was also a photographer.
Rene has been a main Storage Wars cast member since season 5. He made his debut on the reality TV show in season 4. Storage Wars season 15 premiered on June 6 and once again, Rene is hustling to outbid his fellow competitors. Rene’s wife Casey Nezhoda also works alongside him.
