Danny Sugerman; L.A. rock fixture was 50

From Rolling Stone's website this afternoon:

Rock & roll manager and writer Danny Sugerman, best known as the manager of the Doors and the co-author of the best-selling Jim Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive, passed away Wednesday night at the age of fifty after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

Sugerman parlayed an early love affair with the Doors' music -- detailed in his colorful and humorous tales of rock & roll excess, Wonderland Avenue -- into a job answering the band's fan mail at age thirteen. From that point on, he developed a close friendship with Morrison and the rest of the quartet.

Sugerman is survived by his wife, Fawn Hall, who came in for some notoriety herself in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan Administration. She was the secretary to Lt. Col. Oliver North on the national security staff at the White House. Billboard.com has a brief item up and the Hollywood Reporter has an obituary by music editor Chris Morris.

Edited 7:30 p.m.