Anne Wexler '51, policy advisor and lobbyist, dies at age 79
Anne Wexler '51, founder of Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates and one of the nation's pre-eminent public policy advisors, died Friday after a long battle against cancer.
A history major at Skidmore, Wexler broke the glass ceiling of the lobbying world
when she founded the firm of Wexler & Associates, in 1981. This launched her successful
and distinguished private sector career as one of the most influential consultants
in the business. She was named among the 10 most powerful lobbyists by Washingtonian
magazine, which noted: "She is easily the most influential female lobbyist in a world
still dominated by men."
Skidmore awarded her an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1979 and its Distinguished
Achievement Award in 1984.
Prior to entering the private sector, Wexler served four years in the Carter Administration
as assistant to the president for public liaison and as deputy under secretary of
commerce, where she was chair of the President's Task Force on Women Business Owners.
She served as the senior advisor to the first woman vice presidential nominee, Geraldine
Ferraro in 1984.
While managing her now husband Joe Duffey's anti-Vietnam War Democratic U.S. Senate
campaign in Connecticut in 1970, she enlisted the support of two volunteers, Bill
Clinton and Hillary Rodham, both Yale Law students. Secretary of State Clinton, during
her own presidential campaign, would often introduce Wexler as the woman who "gave
her her first job in politics." Wexler served as a senior advisor on the Clinton/Gore
transition team and as an informal advisor to President Clinton throughout his two
terms in office.
Wexler spoke warmly of her years at Skidmore, describing them as the "best preparation
I could possibly have had for my career in politics."
"There is no better way to understand present and past culture than majoring in history,"
she said. "It is that which presents the scope of time and experience and lessons
from the past, as well as the people who led and advised governments, that give a
good politician or journalist the perspective they cannot possibly achieve any other
way."
Among her other honors, in 2002 Wexler received the Order of Australia in recognition
of her distinguished work on strengthening relations between the U.S. and Australia,
an award rarely bestowed on non-Australians. She also served as the chairman of the
board of WETA and on the boards of several corporations including The Alumax Corporation,
The Comcast Corporation, The Dreyfus Family of Funds, The New England Electric System,
and The NOVA Corporation. She was also a member of The Council on Foreign Relations
and was a trustee for The National Park Foundation and the Economic Club of Washington.
She is survived by her husband, Joseph Duffey, and their sons, Daniel and David Wexler,
Michael and David Duffey, and their families. A memorial service will be held at The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on October 20, 2009.
