American Pickers star Mike Wolfe reflects on year of ‘heartbreak and loss’ after Frank Fitz’s death

Mike Wolfe reflected on his 2024 and all that he experienced from the good and the bad.

The American Pickers star took to his Instagram on Tuesday, December 31, to put words to what the past year was like for him. He posted a photo of himself sitting on a couch with a bunch of vintage bikes/vehicles in the background. While he sits on the couch in the photo, he is looking to the side and smiling in a white tee paired with blue jeans.

Mike began his caption on his New Year’s Eve post with: “I chose this photo to post because this is where I’m at right now in my life, happy, content and excited about the future. This past year has brought loss and some heart ache but it also has beautiful moments with my daughter and family.”

“The projects that I have thrown myself into have inspired me to do more. Turning 60 this year has centered me and brought me to a place in my mind that I feel at peace and I love that my circle is getting much smaller so I can be present more with the ones I love,” Mike continued.

The reality TV host concluded his caption, adding a prayer hand emoji at the end: “I’m incredibly blessed for all of your support. For 15 years now we have been able to tell stories and focus on the history, people, and places that continue to bring us all together. I fall in love with America over and over again when I travel. There is no such thing as a nobody or a place that is nowhere. Now more the ever let’s seek and find common ground. 2025 We got this!!!”

While Mike did not specify in his post the loss he faced, his former American Pickers co-host and longtime friend Frank Fritz died last year on September 30 at the age of 60. According to by TMZ, Frank’s cause of death was “late sequela of cerebral infarction,” meaning a stroke stemming from cerebral vascular disease.

Aortic stenosis—the narrowing of the aortic heart valve leading to blood not being able to flow normally—and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) also played a role in his death. He previously suffered a stroke in 2022.

Frank and Mike had a complex relationship which included a falling out. Frank in 2021, spoke to the The U.S Sun about his estrangement from Mike and how they hadn’t spoken in two years. Frank left American Pickers for good in 2021 with his last episode in 2020.

The duo seemed to patch up their friendship as Mike shared to PEOPLE in November 2024, how they healed their friendship as well as being there with Frank moments before his death.

“I got the call that he wasn’t doing well. I just feel blessed that I was able to get there,” he recounted. “I was there for about an hour before he passed, and I was holding his hand and rubbing his chest when he took his last breath. I took my fingers and I closed his eyes.”

“I just told him that I wasn’t mad at him and that I loved him and that I cared about him so much,” he said of their last words. “And then when I could see that he was struggling, I just said, ‘Just go find your mom. Go find her right now. Just go find her,'” Mike said.