Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Picture Courtesy: Harald Bischoff, CC BY-SA 3.0, by way of Wikimedia Commons)
NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Internationally identified intercourse therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer handed away Friday (July 12) peacefully at her house in New York Metropolis, surrounded by her two youngsters. Information of her loss of life was confirmed to a number of media shops by way of her publicist, Pierre Lehu. A explanation for loss of life was not disclosed. She was 96.
Identified to tens of millions as “Dr. Ruth,” Westheimer turned a family identify along with her distinctive mix of wit, heat, and knowledge, delivered in her distinctive German accent. She was a tireless advocate for sexual training, serving to to demystify and normalize discussions about sexual needs and practices.
Born in Germany in 1928, Dr. Ruth was despatched to Switzerland at age 10 on the eve of World Struggle II to flee the Nazis. She believed her mother and father have been murdered at Auschwitz since she by no means noticed them once more – a tragedy that profoundly influenced her life and work. As a teen, she moved to Jerusalem and educated as a sniper with the Haganah, a Zionist militant group.
Westheimer later studied in Paris earlier than immigrating to New York Metropolis, incomes a level from Lecturers School at Columbia College. Her first radio present, “Sexually Talking,” debuted in New York in 1980 and rapidly gained a nationwide following. This success led to her tv present, “The Dr. Ruth Present,” on the Lifetime community, the place she continued to supply candid recommendation on taboo sexual subjects.
All through her profession, Dr. Ruth authored over 37 books and appeared on quite a few tv exhibits, all the time encouraging her viewers to “have good intercourse.” She remained a vibrant and energetic determine in public life nicely into her 90s, just lately serving as New York state’s honorary ambassador to loneliness.
Dr. Ruth’s contributions prolonged past her skilled work. She was a devoted Museum of Jewish Heritage member and actively participated in Holocaust remembrance occasions. In her 2015 e book, The Physician Is In: Dr. Ruth on Love, Life, and Joie de Vivre, she wrote, “To permit the enjoyment to return entrance and heart in your life, you additionally need to really feel your feelings, even the unhappy ones. You need to mourn; let the tears pour out. Should you bottle the unhappiness in, the enjoyment will get bottled proper together with it.”
Dr. Ruth Westheimer leaves a legacy of compassion, training, and joyful residing. Her forthcoming e book on loneliness, set to be launched posthumously in September, is a testomony to her enduring affect on tens of millions of lives.
She is preceded in loss of life by her third husband, a fellow Holocaust survivor who lasted 36 years, Manfred “Fred” Westheimer, who handed away in 1997. Two youngsters and 4 grandchildren survive her.
RIP.