Thursday, March 22, 2007

Milton Wexler, Hollywood psychoanalyst, dead at 98

KSBY

SANTA MONICA, Calif. Prominent Hollywood's psychoanalyst Milton Wexler has died of respiratory failure at his home in Santa Monica.

Wexler, also the founder of a research organization whose scientists discovered the gene that causes Huntington's disease, was 98.

Wexler found success treating clients who were well-known in Hollywood, even sharing a screenplay credit with Blake Edwards on two movies.

He launched what is now known as the Hereditary Disease Foundation in 1968, when his wife, Leonore Wexler, was diagnosed with Huntington's disease.

In 1983, the scientists nurtured by Wexler found the genetic marker for Huntington's. In 1993, they located the gene itself.

Doctor Anne Young of Harvard Medical School called Wexler a "visionary."

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