Joel Wachs (, ; born March 1, 1939) is an American former politician and lawyer. He is the president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York City. He was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for 30 years, where he was known for his promotion of the arts, support of gay causes, advocacy of rent control and other economic measures. The unmarried Wachs was a closeted gay man until he was preparing to run for mayor in 1999 at the age of 60. He was asked by Bill Rosendahl, the openly gay moderator of a public affairs television show, "Are you a gay man?" Wachs responded: "I am and I'm very proud of what I've done for the community, and I'm also very proud of the fact that what I've done for the community is what I've done for all communities." Early life and education Wachs was born on March 1, 1939, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Hannah (Stahler) and Archie Wachs, a teacher. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Poland who ran a grocery and butcher shop. The younger of two sons, Joel "suffered from hay fever so severe that at the height of the ragweed season, his parents sat him in the shop's cold storage room, in a fur coat, to help him breathe". They moved to Los Angeles when Wachs was ten, where his family became wealthy with a chain of inexpensive ladies' clothing stores. He grew up in Vermont Knolls, between 79th and 83rd streets and Vermont and Normandie Avenue. He attended Horace Mann Junior High School and Washington High School, followed by the University of California, Los Angeles, where the "gregarious" Wachs was president of his freshman and junior classes, and of the student body. He earned a degree at Harvard Law School and a Master of Laws in taxation from New York University. When in Los Angeles, he lived in Studio City. Career After completing his education, Wachs was an attorney with the Los Angeles firm of Gray, Binkley & Pfaelzer (later became Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodard & Quinn) and practiced law for five years. He told a reporter in 1991, "I didn't love practicing tax law ... the result of my efforts was finding ways to save rich people money. And I didn't find that satisfying." Los Angeles City Council Wachs served on the Los