By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-16 20:31:09 | Updated at 2026-06-19 13:34:52
2 days ago
A senior Estée Lauder executive who died in his husband’s arms moments after feeling lightheaded inside their $2.8 million New York City apartment suffered a pulmonary embolism triggered by cosmetic fillers.
Kendal Ascher, 56, “suffered acute respiratory failure due to a pulmonary embolism connected to a foreign material after getting cosmetic filler injections,” the city’s medical examiner told the Daily Mail.
Ascher’s February 25 death was ruled accidental in the report, which was given to his loved ones over the weekend.
Ascher’s grieving husband, William Howe, told the outlet that he wasn’t aware of his husband, who was vice president of the beauty company, using cosmetic fillers before his death.
Howe, 63, said that he got Botox, which is not a filler, with his husband just five months before he died.
“It’s just profoundly sad,” the widow said, “I witnessed it, it was immediate. The cause was secondary.”
Howe previously told the outlet that his spouse of four months went limp in the early hours as they desperately tried to reach the bedroom of their Chelsea home.
He said there was no pulse and his husband was immediately unresponsive, dying in his arms.
“It all happened within eight seconds.”
Ascher had taken a shower and said he felt light-headed so he sat down — Howe waited for a few minutes before helping his husband get back to his feet.
The pair could only go four steps before Ascher told his partner, “Wait.” Then he went limp and died.
