Dr. Ruth Westheimer, whose grandmotherly approach as a sex therapist made her a pop icon in the 1980s, died Friday in New York City at home at age 96.
Her publicist, Pierre Lehu, who co-authored books with Westheimer, confirmed her death.
“She was restful when she passed away. Her son and daughter were with her and holding her hand at that moment,” Lehu told People, adding, “It was as peacefully as she could possibly go. It’s amazing, there was stuff still going on in her life [she has a book coming out this fall with Allison Gilbert] and someone wants to make a biopic about her.”
Born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Wiesenfeld, Germany, she lost her entire family during World War II. Her father, Julius, was taken away by the Nazis in 1938. Six weeks later, she was on a train to Switzerland as part of the ‘”kindertransport,” the organized escape of thousands of Jewish children out of Germany.
She emigrated to Palestine in 1945 after the war, and began going by her middle name, Ruth. Sshe trained to be a sniper for the Israeli Army.
After her service, she moved to Paris to study psychology at Sorbonne University and then, New York City. After two marriages and divorces, she met Manfred Westheimer, a telecommunications engineer and fellow Jewish refugee, in 1961. He became her third husband, and she called their 36-year union her “real marriage.”
She pursued post doctoral research in human sexuality and began working at Planned Parenthood, where she trained family planning counselors.
In 1980, her big break arrived.
Public radio station WYNY’s community affairs manager, Betty Elam, had heard Westheimer speak. She proposed a call-in show on sex education. That mushroomed into the live call-in show Sexually Speaking, which lasted ten years and led to a series of tv and radio shows.
In later years, she lectured, taught, and wrote books. Westheimer received an honorary doctorate degree from Trinity College in 2004 and the Medal for Distinguished Service from the Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Additionally, Ask Dr. Ruth, a film about her extraordinary life, premiered in theaters in 2019.
Survivors include her two children, Miriam and Joel, and four grandchildren. Her husband, Manfred, died in 1997.
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