Sunday, March 25, 2007

OBITUARIES

Milton Wexler

WEXLER--Milton. We miss our beloved and unique father, Milton Wexler, who died prematurely at home on March 16, 2007, at the age of 98. A renaissance man, Wexler transformed every boundary he met, from helping launch the Human Genome Project to creating innovative approaches to doing psychotherapy. He befriended and mentored people who changed the face of the arts and sciences.

Educated at Syracuse University, he received a law degree from NYU, briefly practicing in Manhattan. He was lured by the tradition-breaking ideas of Sigmund Freud and escaped the law, earning his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Columbia University and completing his psychoanalytic training. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Wexler moved in 1946 to become Chief Psychologist at the Menninger Clinic. At Menningers, he did seminal research on the treatment of schizophrenia as well as practicing psychoanalysis.

In 1950, Wexler's world was shattered when each of his wife's three brothers was diagnosed with Huntington's disease (HD), a devastating and inevitably fatal hereditary brain disorder. Wexler moved his family to Los Angeles. He continued to specialize in treating schizophrenia. His practice expanded to include many creative people in all walks of life -artists, architects, actors, writers, businessmen and others. He experimented with group therapy using the combustible energy of the participants to liberate growth.

In 1968, another blow struck the Wexler family. Leonore, his wife, was also diagnosed with HD, the same catastrophic neurodegenerative disease that had destroyed her brothers. The Wexlers realized that their daughters, Alice and Nancy, had a 50% risk of going down the same fatal path. Wexler immediately began the Hereditary Disease Foundation, dedicated to finding treatments and cures. He was particularly proud of creating the interdisciplinary Workshop Program that remains the linchpin of the Foundation. Using lessons gleaned from group therapy, Wexler transformed scientific discussions. He restricted the number to a small group of interdisciplinary participants and forbade slides. He realized it was essential for basic and clinical scientists to work together, share and collaborate. He also recognized that senior investigators as well as younger researchers had something unique to offer. His own presence, when he moderated and participated in the workshops, was catalytic. The synergism he created radiated far beyond the Foundation and broke new boundaries.

Although by nature optimistic, Wexler was stunned when his team found the location of the HD gene in 1983. When stretched end to end, a single persons DNA spans the globe's circumference. Wexler's team had found the equivalent of one inch on the globe's circumference! This discovery helped launch the Human Genome Project. It meant that the strategies pioneered and proven by his team would work to find any gene. Wexler's team had found a DNA marker extremely close to the HD gene on the top of chromosome 4. Much work needed to be done to isolate the gene in this inhospitable terrain. Wexler formed an international team, encouraging collaboration to find the HD gene. To expedite progress, Wexler brought the Gene Hunters together many times a year for interdisciplinary workshops. He supported the research financially and became a close mentor and friend to over 100 scientists who made up the team. When the gene was discovered, the Gene Hunters published as a group. Spanning 40 years, Wexler served consecutively as President and Chairman of the Board of the Hereditary Disease Foundation. His inspiration changed the face of medical science. Many researchers he mentored are now transforming the world as leaders in academia, government and the private sector.

Wexler continued to the end to be elated by advances in biology that draw us closer to treatments and cures. His excitement about science, creativity and the arts was infectious. His prodigious intellect, curiosity, passion and zest for life moved us and added dimensions to our own. His enthusiasm for Trollope, Huckleberry Finn and Benjamin Franklin, as innovators in psychology and science, opened our eyes. His love of writing expressed itself in creating screenplays and novels. We shared the pleasure of seeing some of his screenplay collaborations in cinemas! He finished an autobiography before macular degeneration robbed him of his sight. We miss his warmth, loyalty, empathy and steadfastness as a friend. We miss his astuteness about character, his dignity, and his generosity of soul. He met almost insuperable physical challenges with humor and grace. He was the "elder of our tribe," the bedrock beneath our feet, and the "helium" of inspiration. He is irreplaceable and sorely missed.

Send donations to the Hereditary Disease Foundation, 3960 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10032; www.hdfoundation.org, 212.928.2121.

Published in the New York Times on 3/25/2007.

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