The first time Dr. Darold Treffert and Kim Peek spoke was by telephone.

It was the 1980s, and Treffert was consulting on a movie, “Rain Man,” that had been inspired by Peek.

“Let’s see, Treffert,” Peek said. “You’re in Fond du Lac?”

“That’s right,” Treffert said.

Peek proceeded to rattle off the names of various elected officials serving Treffert, along with Fond du Lac’s main highways, television stations and a capsule history of the area.

He was just getting started.

The last time Treffert saw Peek, who died last month at 58, was on a 2008 visit to Wisconsin by Kim and his father, Fran Peek. Kim spoke at a Wisconsin Medical Society Foundation dinner in Madison and also to students at Jefferson Middle School.

Peek brought along the Oscar — the Academy Award statue — that “Rain Main” screenwriter Barry Morrow had given him as a gift. Everyone wanted their photo taken with the Oscar, and Peek obliged. At one point he asked Treffert the date of his birthday.

“March 12, 1933,” Treffert replied.

Peek noted instantly that it was the day of Franklin Roosevelt’s first fireside chat.

They were friends, Treffert and Peek. The psychiatrist and the savant. Treffert documented Peek’s amazing memory in journals like Scientific American and as Peek gained confidence — particularly in the wake of “Rain Man” — he became a compelling public speaker, inspiring audiences around the globe.

It had been quite a journey, Treffert was saying Friday, for someone doctors suggested should be institutionalized before he was 10.

“If company came, he would hide in the closet,” Treffert said.

The movie changed Peek’s life. Treffert’s involvement came because the Hollywood people making the 1988 film, which starred Dustin Hoffman as an autistic savant, knew Treffert was about to publish a book on savants titled “Extraordinary People” and hired him as a consultant.

Treffert graduated from the University of Wisconsin Medical School in 1958 and did his residency in psychiatry at University Hospital in Madison.

In 1962, Treffert joined the staff of the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, charged with setting up a unit for children.

There wasn’t a great deal known about the condition J. Langdon Down had named “idiot savant” in 1887, but Treffert had several young patients with unusual gifts who caught his eye.

One had memorized the bus schedule for the city of Milwaukee and another could quickly assemble a 250-piece jigsaw puzzle with the picture side of the pieces face down.

Treffert, who would set up a private psychiatry practice in Fond du Lac, eventually became an expert on Savant Syndrome — islands of genius in otherwise severely disabled persons.

He was interviewed on “60 Minutes” for a 1983 story on the cognitively disabled pianist Leslie Lemke, and then the “Rain Man” filmmakers called.

The movie had its genesis when screenwriter Barry Morrow met Kim Peek at a 1984 Association for Retarded Citizens meeting in Texas. Morrow was dazzled by Peek’s feats of memory. The Hoffman character in the film is fictional — his life story is not Peek’s — but all involved said the movie would not have been made had Morrow not been inspired by Peek.

When Treffert got the phone call Dec. 19 from Fran Peek, saying Kim had died suddenly of a heart attack earlier that day, Treffert posted a tribute on the Savant Syndrome Web site and invited people to send condolences he would forward to Fran.

“I didn’t count them,” Treffert said, “but it’s in the hundreds and from all over the world.”

They heard from students who said Kim had helped them view disabilities in a different light, and from parents of disabled children inspired by Fran’s devotion to Kim.

“They liked Madison,” Treffert said, recalling the 2008 visit by Fran and Kim. “They had hoped to come back.”

During that visit to Jefferson Middle School, the students had peppered Kim with questions, and he didn’t disappoint.

A sixth-grader asked, “What day did the Battle of Midway start?”

“June 4, 1942,” Kim said. “Thursday.”