Mar 25, 2009 6:00 PM PDT    Text size: 

In his career in the adult industry, he worked in video sales at VCX at the beginning of the home-video era and was general manager at Leisure Time Entertainment.

"I knew Sandy 30 years," Mike Esposito of Gentlemen's Video told XBIZ. "Beta, VHS — I would say in his time he was the ranking salesperson in this industry. Video sales were so strong at that time, the late '70s and early '80s, that VCX had a New York office and he ran it. Some of the titles he introduced were 'Deep Throat,' 'Devil in Miss Jones,' 'Debbie Does Dallas' and 'High School Memories.'

"He was also in the forefront of the adult bookstore industry. He used to get arrested every day," Esposito said. "It got to the point where they would call Sandy in the morning and say 'Come in and turn yourself in.' He would get a fine and go on his way.

"Not only was he kind, but he was a good human being. Sometimes we forget the people who stood at the forefront," Esposito said. "He was one of the first people to use the 1st Amendment as a wall."

Sarnblad had been living in retirement in Las Vegas.

A memorial service was held March 14 and he was interred in Boulder City, Nev.

Sarnblad is survived by his wife, two adult sons and one grandson.