Alexander Oscar Gettler (August 13, 1883 - August 4, 1968) was a toxicologist with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of NYC (1918-59). His work at OCME with Charles Norris, chief medical examiner, created the foundation for modern medicolegal investigation in the US and Gettler has been described by peers as "the father of forensic toxicology in America." Charles Norris (December 4, 1867 - September 11, 1935) was New York's first appointed chief medical examiner (1918-35) and pioneer of forensic toxicology in America. In 1904 became the laboratory director at Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. In 1917, he applied for the job of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, took a civil service examination and passed. He immediately set about improving his department. After hiring several distinguished scientists and chemists, including Alexander Gettler, he was forced, due to the lack of any supplies, to buy them all out of his own money. In the spring of 1935, Norris began to feel ill and died of heart failure at the age of 67.