Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Photo by Harald Bischoff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Internationally renowned sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer passed away peacefully on Friday (July 12) at her New York City home, surrounded by her two children. News of her death was released to multiple media outlets through her publicist, Pierre Leff. The cause of death was not disclosed. She was 96 years old.
Known to millions as “Dr. Ruth,” Westheimer became known for her unique blend of wit, warmth and wisdom delivered in a distinctive German accent. She was a passionate advocate of sex education, helping to demystify and normalize discussion of sexual desires and behavior.
Dr. Ruth was born in Germany in 1928 and was sent to Switzerland at the age of 10 to escape the Nazis on the eve of World War II. She never saw her parents again and believed them to have been murdered at Auschwitz, a tragedy that deeply influenced her life and work. As a teenager, she moved to Jerusalem and trained as a sniper with the Haganah, a radical Zionist group.
Westheimer went on to study in Paris before moving to New York, where she earned a degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her first radio show, “Sexual Speaking,” premiered in New York in 1980 and quickly gained a national following. This success led her to have her own television show, “The Dr. Ruth Show,” on the Lifetime network, where she continued to offer frank advice on taboo sexual topics.
Throughout her career, Dr. Ruth has written over 37 books and appeared on numerous television shows, always encouraging her audiences to have good sex. She remains active in the public eye well into her 90s, most recently serving as an honorary New York State Ambassador for Loneliness.
Dr. Ruth’s contributions went beyond her professional sphere. She was an avid member of the Museum of Jewish Heritage and an active participant in Holocaust commemoration events. In her 2015 book, The Doctor’s Visit: Dr. Ruth Talks Love, Life, and Joie de Vivre She writes, “In order to make joy the center of your life, you must feel your emotions, including sad ones. You must grieve and shed tears. If you bottle up your sadness, you bottle up your joy with it.”
Dr. Ruth Westheimer left behind a legacy of compassion, education, and a life filled with joy, and her upcoming book on loneliness, scheduled for posthumous publication in September, is a testament to the lasting impact she had on millions of lives.
She was preceded in death by her third husband of 36 years, Manfred “Fred” Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor, in 1997. She is survived by two children and four grandchildren.
RIP.
