LA JOLLA -- Francis Harry Compton Crick, who co-discovered the master plan to the machinery of life, died Wednesday at the age of 88. Crick, a La Jolla resident on the faculty of the Salk Institute since 1977, died at UC San Diego's Thornton Hospital after a struggle with colon cancer.

Crick's name will always be linked with James D. Watson, his partner in unraveling how the DNA molecule controls heredity. Their discovery made possible a previously unimaginable world of biology populated by a growing number of life-saving medicines, genetically modified foods, genetic fingerprinting to solve crimes, and, in monetary terms, today's $30 billion biotechnology industry.

DNA, the abbreviation for deoxyribonucleic acid, carries the genetic code that determines the characteristics of virtually every living thing. No one knew how this molecule functioned until Crick and Watson proposed DNA's famous double-helix model in 1953, representing the molecule as twin spiral ladders. Each rung in the ladder is made of two of four chemical building blocks, called "bases," that spell out the code.

This model, which also explained how DNA reproduces itself, earned Crick and Watson a Nobel Prize in 1962.

"The world was one way before Watson and Crick, and an entirely different place after," said Stanley T. Crooke, chairman and chief executive of Carlsbad's Isis Pharmaceuticals. Crooke, Crick and Watson served on the board of Sibia, a spinoff of the Salk Institute. Sibia was acquired by the pharmaceutical firm Merck in late 1999.

Watson, 76, is now chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island in New York. In a statement Thursday, Watson praised the British-born Crick both for his intellect and personal kindness while they worked together for two years in Cambridge, England.

"He treated me as though I were a member of his family," Watson said.

Crick's presence helped the San Diego region emerge as a top biotechnology center, local biotech leaders said. San Diego County has the largest biotech cluster in the country, employing thousands and creating companies worth billions of dollars, according to a study released in June by the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. The report names the Salk Institute, UCSD and The Scripps Research Institute as providing the biomedical brainpower behind this industry.

"Science attracts science, and great science attracts great science," said David Hale, chief executive of CancerVax, a Carlsbad-based biotech company developing treatments for cancer. Hale said. "Having him here was important for the overall scientific community, along with the other Nobel laureates we have here. I know other people came here because of him."

Crooke and other local biotech executives who knew Crick described him as a brilliantly creative thinker with a kindly personal manner and keen interest in helping the public understand the importance of biological research.

Crick stood out in science both for his brilliance and "gentle kindness," Crooke said.

"Science can be a very tough business, like any other business. People who are creative and also kind in their interactions are the rarest breed. He struck me as one of those."

Crooke said Isis could not exist without the knowledge of DNA's structure. The company is developing "antisense" drugs that deactivate specific sections of ribonucleic acid -- or RNA, a molecule related to DNA -- involved in disease processes.

Crick was interested in helping the public understand the benefits of biological research, said Joe Panetta, chief executive of Biocom, a San Diego-based life sciences trade group.

"He was a man of insight, genius and vision, and at the same time, he knew it was so important for all of this knowledge to be communicated in a way that the general public could understand," Panetta said.

Panetta first met Crick about six years ago, at an annual dinner held for local Nobel laureates. There, he saw an offbeat sign of his discovery's impact: a local biotech executive showing Crick the tattoo of a double helix on the back of his shoulder.

More than two decades ago, Crick shifted from genetics to studying the brain, tackling the fields of dreams, vision and consciousness. He wrote a book, "The Astonishing Hypothesis," proposing that every aspect of consciousness was created by material factors, without the need to consider the mind as a distinct entity.

Crick continued his research at the Salk Institute until he died, said an institute spokeswoman.

"Francis Crick will be remembered as one of the most brilliant and influential scientists of all time," said Richard A. Murphy, the Salk Institute's president and chief executive officer. "We were honored to have him with us and will miss him tremendously."

Crick is survived by his second wife, artist Odile Speed; two daughters; a son by a previous marriage; and four grandchildren. He was divorced from his first wife, Doris Dodd, in 1947. Services will be private, the family said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641, or bfikes@nctimes.com.