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.

"He was a fine, good and decent man," Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek told Rolling Stone. "Smart as a whip with a very high I.Q. He was my great friend. I've known him since he was fourteen years old, and he gradually developed into one of the new breed of Jewish American Buddhists. His heart was in the heavens and he is now in the light with the Buddha and Jim Morrison."

Sugerman also went on to manage Iggy Pop, but he maintained his connection with the Doors, serving as a consultant on Oliver Stone's 1990 biopic The Doors.

Sugerman is survived by his wife Fawn (formerly Fawn Hall), his brother Joseph and his sister Nan. A recovering addict, Sugerman was active in such organizations as the Drug Policy Foundation, Musicians Assistance Program and NARAS' MusiCares Foundation.

Private services are being planned. The family is requesting that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made in Sugerman's name to the MusiCares/MAP Fund, 817 S. Vine Street, Hollywood, CA, 90038.

Daniel Steven Sugerman