Jerry Wexler

Music industry legend Jerry Wexler, who had a home in East Hampton, died August 15 at a hospice in Sarasota, Florida. He was 91.

While writing for Billboard magazine, a job he landed after military service and studying journalism in college, he coined the term “rhythm and blues” for the magazine’s black music charts, which were known at the time as “race records.”

Also while writing for Billboard in the late 1940s, he met the person who would define the course of his career, Ahmet Ertegun, who would go on to found Atlantic Records. Mr. Wexler filled in at Atlantic for Mr. Ertegun’s business partner, who left to serve in the military in 1953. And he stayed on for the next two decades.

“Atlantic provided an outlet for the groundbreaking work of African-American performers in the 1950s and 1960s. Later, it was a home to rock icons like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. He later helped Dylan win his first Grammy by producing his 1979 ‘Slow Train Coming’ album,” according to an Associated Press report of Mr. Wexler’s death. He was also the man who catapulted to success such artists as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Wilson Pickett.

In 1987, Mr. Wexler was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making him one of the few non-performers to earn the honor. His profile on the hall’s website notes that while at Atlantic, he “began producing the company’s major rhythm & blues artists at all-night recording sessions that, in hindsight, were historic in their scope and impact on popular music. Wexler’s efforts at Atlantic helped bring black music to the masses—and in so doing built a significant and lasting bridge between the races.”

After the 1967 sale of Atlantic Records to Warner Brothers, Mr. Wexler and Mr. Ertegun stayed for a few more years to run the company, but began moving in separate directions professionally. Mr. Wexler pursued an interest in Southern musicians, including Duane Allman and Willie Nelson, and later worked with Dire Straits and Carlos Santana.

Mr. Wexler was the co-author with David Ritz of “Rhythm and The Blues: A Life in American Music,” a definitive resource for those interested in music history.

He retired in the late 1990s to Florida, where he continued to be sought out for interviews about the music industry. A RollingStone.com obituary for Mr. Wexler noted that “less than two weeks before he died, he was still taking calls. ‘Always answer the phone,’ was a personal motto of his. ‘You never know if it’s a hit calling.’”

Mr. Wexler is survived by his wife, novelist Jean Arnold, and two children, Paul and Lisa.