Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Radio And TV Sex Therapist, Dies

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a sex therapist and media personality, died on Friday at age 96. The German-born academic, whose death was confirmed to the media Saturday by spokesperson Pierre Lehu, reportedly died at her Manhattan home in New York City.

Westheimer, better known simply as Dr. Ruth, lived a long and adventurous life. As a young girl, she escaped the Holocaust and trained as a sniper for a Jewish paramilitary group in Palestine. Decades later, she became a household name in the U.S., revolutionizing how we discuss sex and pleasure.

Dr. Ruth burst onto the air with her own radio show, “Sexually Speaking,” in 1980, bringing with her years of expertise as a researcher and professor of human sexuality. The 15-minute program originally aired every Sunday at midnight in New York City and quickly became popular, running for a decade. Her tag line: “Get some!”

“She can seemingly say things on the air that no one else can these days,” a writer for The New York Times described Westheimer in 1985. “Even on Sunday nights, when men of the cloth are preaching hellfire and brimstone up and down the radio dial. This could be because she is short and sweet and takes her subject seriously.”

Four years after its inception, “Sexually Speaking” was syndicated by NBC Radio and broadcast across the country. It was redubbed “The Dr. Ruth Show.”

During the 1980s and ’90s, Westheimer hosted several TV shows centering on human sexuality and pleasure, including “Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer” (which later became another “Dr. Ruth Show”) and “Ask Dr. Ruth.” She also made dozens of guest appearances on late night and network TV shows. She became a cultural icon for her frank and funny ability to talk about sex ― in a thick German accent, no