A psychoanalyst, Wexler became famous as visionary architect Frank Gehry’s shrink. But Wexler was much more.
In the late 1960s, Wexler’s wife, Leonore, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, a genetic problem that has no cure. Worse, there was a 50-50 chance that their two daughters would also get the disease, as well as Wexler’s brothers. Rather than just accept his family’s fate, Wexler mobilized against the disease, organizing workshops with researchers looking for a cure under an organization he founded, the Hereditary Disease Foundation.
His approach was radical: using group therapy techniques, he’d get researchers together in a room, including DNA pioneer James Watson, and brainstorm. By 1983 the teams he put together found a genetic marker for the disease — the first step toward a cure, and 10 years later they found the gene itself. It was too late for Leonore, who died in 1978, but it gave hope for others with the disease.
It also showed that gene mapping was possible, opening the door toward mapping the human genome. Wexler’s insistence that it could be done “proved it could be done,” said Dr. Francis Collins, one of the researchers. “The search for the Huntington’s gene became the paradigm for all such gene hunts.” That not only has helped Huntington’s sufferers, but those with other genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis.
Wexler, who treated many Hollywood stars, also dabbled in screenwriting: he co-wrote The Man Who Loved Women and That’s Life! with Blake Edwards, and used the proceeds to help care for his brothers in law, who also had Huntington’s. Dr. Wexler died from respiratory failure at his home on March 16. He was 98.