Jeff Wexler CAS
The Cinema Audio Society is saddened to report the passing of production sound mixing titan and CAS Career Achievement Award recipient Jeff Wexler on December 9th.
Over an active career that spanned five decades, Jeff’s work can be heard on heralded films such as An Officer and a Gentleman, The Natural, Ghost, Independence Day, Jerry Maguire, Fight Club, and Almost Famous, among dozens of others. Along with being a two-time Academy Award nominee, Emmy nominee, BAFTA winner, and three-time CAS Award nominee, Jeff was honored with the Cinema Audio Society’s highest recognition, the CAS Career Achievement Award, in 2011.
Jeff’s forward thinking and embrace of technology was evident. He was one of the first production mixers to switch from recording on analog Nagra to digital DAT, and then to file-based recording with Zaxcom’s Deva I. In addition to serving on the CAS board of directors, he was an active participate in workshops and panel discussions and also enjoyed guest lecturing. As a mechanism to further share knowledge, Jeff created and moderated the long-running sound-focused website JWSoundGroup.
Memories of Jeff as father, friend, mentor, and mixer have been shared across traditional and social media. His children summarized, “[T]he main thing we want people to know is that he was a great dad. Someone who showed up for us. A man of quiet integrity, whose deep and comprehensive exploration of the human condition was evident in all he did. We know our dad will be missed far beyond our family. The film community loved him, learned from him, and was inspired by him. We were fortunate to have him as a father, and despite his physical absence, he remains with us always.” The CAS extends our heartfelt condolences to Jeff’s family and friends.
Celebrate Jeff Wexler by reading his CAS Career Achievement Award recipient interview in the Winter 2011 issue of CAS Quarterly, available for download here:
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