Lol! Ederlyl man slaps and spits at 9NEWS reporter after neighbour's body found on Reservoir footpath.

A 90-year-old Melbourne man has slapped and spat at a 9NEWS reporter after he was interviewed and released without charge over the death of his neighbour.

Residents and the deceased man's family say the pair had a long-running dispute that lasted almost 50 years, and included arguments over the dead man's roses.

Michael Di Berardino, 83, died before he was found by his wife on the a footpath in Joffre Court, Reservoir, yesterday afternoon.

Reporters approached the 90-year-old neighbour for comment today in Carlton, to which he lashed out, slapping reporter Neary Ty and spitting on a camera as he was drives away in a taxi.

"We never separate, we done things together," Mr Di Berardino’s tearful wife, Gemma, told 9NEWS.

"I wanted to scream.

"Always I said to my husband, leave, don’t worry about the plant… Any plant we plant outside in the backyard, he kill,"she said.

His son, Angelo Di Berardino, said the family were “devastated” by their father’s death.

"Devastated, absolutely devastated, the whole family is devastated over this," he said.

"We all loved him," daughter Antoniette Di Berardino added.