Moonshiners star Jim Tom Hedrick dies at 82 after struggle with kidney cancer
Moonshiners star Jim Tom Hedrick dies at age 82 after battling kidney cancer
- A relative said that Hedrick had kidney cancer and was on dialysis for years
- The reality star has been living in a nursing home for the past year
- He appeared in seasons two through six of Discovery’s Moonshiners
Jim Tom Hedrick, a popular former star of the Discovery Channel reality series Moonshiners, has passed away at the age of 82.
Hedrick died Wednesday morning in Robbinsville, North Carolina, according to a relative.
Hedrick’s cause of death is not yet known, but he recently suffered from kidney cancer, a family member said TMZ.
The reality star had also been receiving dialysis treatments for “a long time,” the relative said.
His death comes just months after another Moonshiners star, Craig Landy, was hospitalized following a devastating electric unicycle crash.
Reality star: Jim Tom Hedrick, a popular former star of the Discovery Channel reality series Moonshiners, has passed away at the age of 82. A family member told TMZ that he had been suffering from kidney cancer and had recently undergone dialysis; still from Moonshiners
Last days: Hedrick had reportedly lived in a nursing home for the last year of his life
Hedrick reportedly had lived in a nursing home for the last year of his life.
A post from a cousin of Hedrick’s on fellow Moonshiners stars Mark and Dugger’s Facebook page revealed that he was “at ease and currently resting without pain,” from a few days before his death.
“Jim Tom devoted much of his life to the art of moonshining, gradually becoming a legend in Appalachia,” read a statement from Sugarlands Distilling Co. “Jim Tom’s well-deserved reputation as one of the most accomplished moonshiners in the South earned him a role on the hit television program Moonshiners, where his colorful persona endeared Jim Tom to the hearts of millions.”
The distillers added that Hedrick was one of the dominant moonshiners in the area when they first started operations.
They said he gave them his “stamp of approval,” which helped to significantly legitimize their business.
Hedrick joined the cast of the Discovery Channel’s Moonshiners series in its second season, and he remained with the show through its sixth season, which ended in 2017.
It presents a dramatized version of the exploits of illegal distillers. According to a 2012 statement from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, none of the people on the series make illegal liquor.