Native Houstonian and longtime jeweler Leon Wexler passed away on March 16 after a lengthy illness. He was 88.

Wexler served in World War II as a sergeant in Company B of the Second Engineer Battalion, was captured, and survived being a prisoner of war.

After the war, he returned to Houston where he resumed work at Wexler Jewelry, the store his father, James Wexler, had opened in 1919. Leon Wexler, along with his brother Seymour and his son Dan, continued the family business, which remains in operation today as a third-generation jewelry store.