Metro

IBM scion chokes to death on final steak dinner

The 41-year-old son of a prominent former IBM executive died after apparently choking on a piece of steak at an Upper East Side diner, sources said yesterday.

Louis Gerstner III, whose 71-year-old father, Louis Gerstner Jr., is credited with rebuilding IBM into an immensely profitable business, started gagging on his food at the Lenox Hill Diner on Aug. 14.

“He was alone. He was sitting at the counter,” said restaurant owner John Politidis, 49.

“Without [warning], he just fell on his back. He fell hip first and then, after that, he hit his head.”

The official cause of death is pending, officials said.

Gerstner, whose father was named one of Forbes richest Americans in 2002, was a regular at the diner.

The Princeton grad’s last meal was the $24.95 George’s Steak — a “16-ounce cut. Aged on premises. With natural sauce, grilled mushrooms, red onions” — that he washed down with “a couple of vodka drinks,” Politidis said.

“He was fine. It was fine till the last moment, no signs or anything. He was just watching TV at the bar,” Politidis said.