Publicist Behind Mr. Blackwell's Best Dressed List Chokes To Death On Lunch Meat
HOLLYWOOD (CBS) — Michael Sands, the publicist famous for coming up with the idea for Mr. Blackwell's annual Best Dressed list, has died after choking on lunch meat.
Internet reports say Sands, 66, tried a sample of beef at the deli counter at a Gelson's in Century City on March 24th.
Sands' son told The Wrap, that his father had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease which caused him to have unusually narrow airways.
Bystanders reportedly tried the Heimlich maneuver on Sands for several minutes. Sands was pronounced dead at the scene, then reportedly revived. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai where he was declared dead on April 6.
The news and circumstances of Sands' passing were reported Friday.
Sands' other clients included Hollywood plastic surgeons, private eyes, Kevin Federline, actress Kristy Swanson, onetime Bond actor George Lazenby and Michael Reagan, the former president's son.
Sands, a former actor and model, was known for promoting himself. He started a designer line of cheesecakes -- C'est Cheesecake -- and posed semi-nude in People to promote the line. Sands also claimed as a member of the CIA that in 2003 he helped capture infamous terrorist Abu Abbas, mastermind of the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985.
