Malcolm McLaren remembered by friends, family

McLaren,64,died Thursday in Switzerland, losing his battle with a rare form of cancer.

"When we were young I fell in love with Malcolm," British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, McLaren's former partner, said in a statement.

"I thought he was beautiful and I still do. I thought he was a very charismatic, special and talented person. The thought of him dead is really something very sad," said the celebrated designer, whose fashions helped define the early punk movement in the U.K.

After the band's short-lived but influential run, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, fought McLaren for years over the band's copyright and royalties.

However, Lydon had kind words for his former colleague, issuing a statement late Thursday that, for him, "Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that ... Above all else, he was an entertainer, and I will miss him, and so should you."

New York Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain hailed McLaren, the band's one-time manager, as "ahead of his time," in an interview with the U.K.'s NME music magazine.

"He always had a great sense of humour, he always had a smile on his face. He would cheer you up if you were down," Sylvain said of the man who he felt "opened the doors" for punk around the globe.

He added that the band would dedicate its song Jet Boy to McLaren's memory at an upcoming show in London next week.

Journalist Jon Savage, author of the Sex Pistols tome England's Dreaming, used "complex" and "contradictory" to describe McLaren's impact in music history.

"Without Malcolm, there would not have been any British punk," Savage said.

"He's one of the rare individuals who had a huge impact on the cultural and social life of this nation."

McLaren is survived by his longtime partner, Young Kim, and his son with Westwood, Joseph Corr.

According to Corr, who co-founded the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, funeral arrangements are pending but his father had wanted to be buried in London's Highgate Cemetery.