Anne Wexler, 79, D.C. lobbyist

WASHINGTON - Anne Wexler, 79, a well-connected political power broker who founded the first major Washington lobbying firm to be led by a woman, and who was considered one of the capital's most influential lobbyists, died Friday of cancer at her home here.

Ms. Wexler began her unlikely rise to prominence in Democratic Party circles as a Connecticut housewife who joined the PTA and a local zoning board. By 1978, she had carved out an important role in the Carter White House and used her skills at compromise and negotiation to win support on Capitol Hill for the administration's legislative programs.

In 1981, she founded Wexler & Associates with Carter White House veterans Gail L. Harrison and Robert Schule.

In a statement released Saturday, former President Jimmy Carter called her an exemplary and "remarkably effective" public servant.

At first, Ms. Wexler was openly mocked by some of the men on Washington's lobbying scene. But when she landed the Motion Picture Association of America as a client, the laughing stopped. In short order, she was doing business with General Motors and American Airlines.

In 1983, she brought former GOP operative and corporate lobbyist Nancy Clark Reynolds to Wexler & Associates to create one of Washington's first bipartisan lobbying firms.

She advised Comcast in merger negotiations with AT&T, and her wide-ranging list of clients also included the National Football League, Aetna Insurance, Kellogg, Bendix and Eastman Kodak.

Her husband, Joseph D. Duffey, noted that Ms. Wexler had battled breast cancer since 1981. "It didn't slow her down a bit," he said

He survives her, as do two sons from her first marriage, David and Daniel Wexler; two stepsons, Michael and David Duffey; a brother; and four grandchildren.