Publicist Michael Sands dies after choking on sample at Gelson's

The Hollywood publicist choked on a meat sample at the Gelson's in Century City on March 24 and died after two weeks in the hospital, The Wrap reports. "He was ashen, very gray and on the floor,” said Stephen Randall, the deputy editor in LA for Playboy Magazine who witnesses the incident. He did not know Sands. "There were no signs of life. It was terrible, awful to be present, watching a guy who I assumed was dead." Sands, 66, was the publicist behind Mr. Blackwell's Worst Dressed List and a number of other Hollywood creations. He claimed CIA connections in a previous chapter of his life, which AP's Linda Deutsch vouches for in the story.