Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the endlessly charming and knowledgeable sex therapist, talk show host, and author has passed away at the formidable age of 96, her publicist announced.

Pierre Lehu, her publicist since 1981, shared the news: “It is with immense personal sorrow that I announce the passing of the iconic Dr. Ruth K Westheimer at the age of 96, whose ‘Minister of Communications’ I’ve been since 1981.”

Dr. Ruth’s family added: “The children of Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer are sad to announce the passing of their mother, the internationally-celebrated sex therapist, author, talk show host, professor, and orphan of the Holocaust. She died peacefully at her home in New York City on July 12th surrounded by her loving family, just over a month after celebrating her 96th birthday.”

For decades, the witty, diminutive Westheimer—popularly known as Dr. Ruth—was one of America’s most trusted and popular voices on the topic of sex.

The beloved German-American therapist was born Karola Ruth Siegel in the tiny village of Wiesenfeld, now Karlstadt am Main, Germany, back in 1928. As the only child of Orthodox Jewish parents, her journey was far from ordinary. To escape the Nazis, her family sent her to a Swiss orphanage. It was later on she learned her parents perished in the Holocaust.

After World War II, Dr. Ruth moved to British-controlled Palestine, where she trained as a Haganah member, a Jewish militia working towards Israeli independence. Her life’s adventure then took her to Paris and New York. In the Big Apple, she earned a Master’s in Sociology from the New School and a Doctorate in Education from Columbia University. She also undertook training as a sex therapist at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, paving the way for her future career.

In a part of her life filled with love, she married fellow Holocaust survivor Manfred “Fred” Westheimer in 1967, following two previous marriages. She worked with Planned Parenthood, served as a college professor, and practiced privately before stepping into the media limelight.

Dr. Ruth burst onto the scene in the early 1980s with her radio show “Sexually Speaking,” where she answered call-in questions from listeners live on air. Her popularity was meteoric, expanding to television, books, and even board games. Talk about a multimedia mogul!

Her TV shows such as “The Dr. Ruth Show,” “Ask Dr. Ruth,” and “The All-New Dr. Ruth Show” became staples throughout the 1980s. She even made appearances on game shows like “Hollywood Squares” and late-night talk programs, including “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”

Dr. Ruth authored dozens of best-selling books, from “Dr. Ruth’s Guide to Good Sex” to “Dr. Ruth’s Guide for Married Lovers,” and even penned an autobiography, “All in a Lifetime.”

She was notably one of the first media figures to discuss the AIDS epidemic, helping destigmatize the condition. “I took that very seriously because of my background as a German-Jewish refugee… I certainly had a sensitivity for the people who were really regarded as subhuman,” she told ABC’s “Nightline” in 2019, reflecting on her commitment to helping those affected by AIDS in the 1980s.

Despite her global fame, Dr. Ruth remained a true New Yorker, residing in the same Manhattan apartment for 50 years and raising her two children there. Life itself was her greatest gift, she once told ABC’s Linsey Davis, proudly declaring, “Hitler is dead, and my grandchildren are alive, and I’m very successful.”

She is survived by her children, Joel and Miriam, and four grandchildren. The world will dearly miss Dr. Ruth’s wisdom, humor, and warmth.

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