Who was Anita Snyder? Frank Gehry's first wife spotlighted as iconic architect dies at 96

Legendary Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry passed away at 96. The architect, whose work includes the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA, died on Friday - December 5, 2025 - at his Los Angeles home after a brief respiratory illness. 

Frank Gehry's death sparked curiosity about his family life, including his first wife, Anita Snyder. He met her while delivering furniture to her parents' house at his day job.

Gehry and Snyder married in 1952, but their marriage ended in a divorce 14 years later in 1966. Anita Snyder was the one who convinced her husband to change his name. 

Snyder also reportedly helped pay his way through the University of California to study ceramics before she switched to architecture. 

They welcomed two daughters together: Brina Gehry and Leslie Gehry Brenner, who passed away from uterine cancer in 2008. Frank Gehry would then remarry his wife - now his widow - nearly ten years after divorcing Snyder.

He married Berta Isabel Aguilera in 1975 and they welcomed two sons, Alejandro and Samuel. He is survived by his wife and his three children. 

Anita Snyder, Frank Gehry's ex-wife, convinced him to change his name

Legendary architect Frank Gehry was born Frank Owen Goldberg in a working-class section of Toronto in February 1929 before they moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1940s.

It was his first wife, Anita Snyder, who convinced him to change his name to make it sound less Jewish.

Gehry admittedly said that he experienced anti-Semitism and his wife thought that a less Jewish-sounding name would help his career. 

He recalled the name change in an interview with journalist Barbara Isenberg for her book Conversations With Frank Gerry, which was published in 2009. He said: 

"I learned I was passed over for an architectural fraternity because I was a Jew. I didn't care, but it was evidence of anti-Semitism to me."

He told Isenberg that a guy he knew casually suggested that he change his name and they could start a partnership after that.

Frank Gehry added that the conversation like that pushed his ex-wife to convince him why it's beneficial to change his name.

He gave in and changed his name from Goldberg to Gehry in 1954 in a bid to avoid being a target of anti-semitism.

However, Gehry would later admit that he regretted changing his name but felt that it was too late to change it back.

He also attributed the end of his marriage to Anita Snyder in part to his commitment to his business, which often takes over his family life. 

Among Frank Gehry's landmark achievements are the 8 Spruce Manhattan skyscraper, the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum in Paris.