From the NYTimes obit:

Given the chance, Mr. Wexler would have produced to the end and beyond.

“I asked him once,” said Mr. Thurman, the filmmaker, “ ‘What do you want written on your tombstone, Jerry?’ He said, ‘Two words: More bass.’ ”

From Wikipedia.com:

During his time as an editor, reporter, and writer for Billboard Magazine, Wexler coined the term “rhythm and blues.” He became a partner in Atlantic Records in 1953. There followed classic recordings with Ray Charles, the Drifters and Ruth Brown. With Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegün, he built up Atlantic Records into a major force. In 1967 he was named Record Executive of the Year for turning Aretha Franklin’s career around.[1]

In the 1960s, he notably recorded Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin, and oversaw production of Dusty Springfield’s highly acclaimed Dusty in Memphis album. He also cultivated a tight relationship with Stax Records, was an enormous proponent of the then-developing Muscle Shoals Sound and founded the fortunes of Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. His work in this decade put Atlantic at the forefront of soul music.[2]

In 1968, he and Ahmet Ertegun signed Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records on the strength of a demo tape played by the band’s manager Peter Grant and from what they knew of the band’s guitarist, Jimmy Page from his performances with The Yardbirds.

In 1975 Wexler left Atlantic Records for Warner Bros. Records. In 1979, Wexler produced Bob Dylan’s controversial first “born again” album, Slow Train Coming, at Muscle Shoals; a single from that album, “Gotta Serve Somebody”, would win a Grammy in 1980. In the early 1980s, Wexler would record with UK popstar George Michael. The most famous outtake of these sessions would prove to be a rare early version of “Careless Whisper” (also recorded in Muscle Shoals). The version was originally released as “Special Mix” on an early pressing of the single’s 12″.

In 1987 Wexler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Wexler retired from the music business in the late 1990s.

From the NYTimes obit:

Mr. Wexler was something of a paradox. A businessman with tireless energy, a ruthless streak and a volatile temper, he was also a hopeless music fan. A New York Jew and a vehement atheist, he found his musical home in the Deep South, in studios in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Ala., among Baptists and Methodists, blacks and good old boys.

“He was a bundle of contradictions,” said Tom Thurman, who produced and directed a documentary about Mr. Wexler in 2000. “He was incredibly abrasive and incredibly generous, very abrupt and very, very patient, seemingly a pure, sharklike businessman and also a cerebral and creative genius.”

From the MuscleShoals Times/Daily:

Songwriter Donnie Fritts knew his friend was sick but had simply hoped the inevitable wouldn’t come.

Fritts learned of his good friend’s death at 8 a.m. Friday after a phone call from another close friend, actor/musician Kris Kristofferson, who co-produced Fritts’ album, “Prone to Lean,” with Wexler in 1974.

Still struggling with his emotions later in the morning Friday, Fritts relayed what he called, “one of the most beautiful displays of friendship I’ve ever heard of.”

Fritts said Kristofferson, who’d been in Europe on business, flew to Wexler’s Florida home on Monday.

“(Kristofferson) went in and played (guitar) and sang to Jerry for two hours, just the two of them,” Fritts said. “Jerry had a way of loving his friends that can never be forgotten, and we adored him. He gave to each of us intellectually, inspiring us to be better people. I know I’m a million times better man for having known him.”