He kept working until a few months ago -- leaving the grind and 2 a.m. wake-up calls of the KINK FM morning show where he'd been since the Eighties, and returning to his early love, music-DJ duties -- while also treating his cancer. He recently went on full disability to devote his energy to treatment.
He was a good guy -- the sort of good guy whose daily routines included carrying his older dog up stairs -- and he had wonderfully intense and weird moments back when he shared morning show duties with newsman Mike Rich (now the screenwriter of Finding Forrester and others), who could bring out that side of Les. I listened to Sarnoff's show the morning of 9/11. His was never a classic radio voice, but it fit the more independent, offbeat nature of KINK FM.
I'm glad I heard you, Les Sarnoff.
http://www.kink.fm/In-Memory-of-Les-Sarnoff/4226176