Renowned Sex Therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer Dead at 96

The world has lost a legend.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the celebrated sex therapist who took radio, TV and publishing by storm with her frank conversations about love and sex, has died, her publicist Pierre Lehu confirmed to NBC News. She was 96.

“She died peacefully at her home in New York City on July 12th surrounded by her loving family,” her family, including children Joel and Miriam, shared in a statement, “just over a month after celebrating her 96th birthday.”

A childhood survivor of the Holocaust, the German-born Westheimer rose to fame in 1980, when she was in her early 50s, with her late-night call-in radio show on New York’s WYNY, Sexually Speaking. With her small frame and willingness to speak candidly about taboo topics like life in the bedroom, she soon became a sensation. 

Initially just a 15-minute program where she answered questions about sex and offered advice to callers, the broadcast was ultimately expanded into a nationally syndicated show that ran until 1990.