‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Nick Mavar Dead at 59 After Suffering Medical Emergency

Deadliest Catch star Nick Mavar died after suffering a medical emergency, Us Weekly can confirm.

Mavar died at age 59 on Thursday, June 13, in Naknek, Alaska, according to the Bristol Bay Borough Police Department.

Police did not provide Us with further details about the medical emergency. However, Mavar’s family has been notified of the news, per TMZ .

Mavar, who appeared on the Discovery Channel series from 2005 to 2021, worked as a deckhand on the F/V Northwestern for 98 episodes. He also surfaced on spinoff shows like Deadliest Catch: Siberian Winter and Deadliest Catch: The Bait .

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The reality star left the series in December 2020 after his appendix ruptured, revealing a cancerous tumor, while filming. This incident prompted him to sue Captain Sig Hansen , alleging that there was no adequate plan to provide him with external medical assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to court documents at the time, Mavar suffered “severe injuries” to his stomach and “other body parts,” causing a “ruptured appendix” and “massive and persistent infection.” His health problems prompted a long “hospitalization due to infections and significant cancer treatment.”

Hansen responded at the time, asserting that the responsibility for the ordeal lay with the production company and the medical subcontractor. As of 2023, the Hansen family was pursuing legal and medical compensation related to Mavar's injuries.

According to Alaska Public Media , Mavar’s lawyer wrote last year that "the delay in competent and adequate examination, testing, and diagnosis caused (Mavar’s) appendix to rupture resulting in horrendous and chronic infections, surgeries, and cancer treatment that would not have occurred had the appendix been removed prior to rupture.”

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Mavar was pursuing a settlement of $1 million in damages from the owners of the F/V Northwestern.

Although it’s unclear if the health scares from Deadliest Catch were related to his death, police continue to investigate the incident.

Mavar is survived by his wife, Julie , whom he married in August 2021. That December, Mavar took to Instagram to gush about his wife in a sweet post.

“I thank god for the day I met you ,” he wrote at the time alongside a photo of the twosome walking on the beach. “We have been through a lot together and I want to thank you for being by my side always. I love our life together and I love you being my wife. 😘❤️”

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Mavar’s final post was in December 2023 when he boasted about his father. “Happy 91st birthday to the world’s greatest father & role model,” he wrote via Instagram at the time alongside a photo of the father son duo. “I’m forever grateful for my dad.”