Sanford “Sandy” Wernick, a longtime talent manager for clients including Adam Sandler, Lorne Michaels, Tim Herlihy, John Davis and Rob Schneider, who also became a partner and senior executive vice president at Brillstein Entertainment Partners, died Thursday. He was 86 years old.
Wernick died in Rancho Mirage, California, after a short illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones, a family representative said. Hollywood Reporter.
Born on March 22, 1939, in the Bronx, Wernick served in the Army from 1960 to 1962 and graduated from New York University.
Before becoming a manager in the 1970s, he worked as an agent and worked his way up from the mailroom at MCA to vice president of ICM’s television division. Later in his career, he became a partner and senior executive vice president of Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
While working in television, Wernick co-created and executive produced Def Comedy Jam. He was also involved in the packaging and production of shows such as Saturday Night Live, Puppet show, The soprano, Politically incorrect, Just shoot me, News Radio, one thousand and The Larry Sanders Show.
On the film side, he served as an executive producer on several Sandler films, including… Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Wedding singer and Bulletproof. He also made cameos in several films and TV shows.
As a manager and agent, his clients included Sandler, Herlihy, Davis, Akira (Leo) Yoshimura, Michaels, Ray Clausen, Don Misher, Stan Lathan, Jeff Ross, Marilyn Wilson, Marty Pacetta, Victor Levin, Boz Cohan, Colin Quinn, Schneider, Norm Crosby, Peter Falk, and Alexandra Pelosi, among others.
Wernick also spent years as an adjunct professor in the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Peter Stark Productions Program and volunteered in the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai. In his spare time, he loved to play golf and was also a former yo-yo champion.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years Barbara, daughter Michelle, son Barry, daughter-in-law Gillian, grandson Sammy, sister Joyce and brother-in-law Jules as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
A private mass will be held in Palm Desert, followed by a memorial celebration in Los Angeles.
