Dr Ruth Westheimer, the famed sex therapist who revolutionised talking about sex and sexuality, has died at age 96.
Her publicist confirmed her death to Page Six saying, "She died peacefully, at home, holding the hands of her son and daughter."
The New York Times reported she died in her Manhattan home.
Westheimer, whose name growing up was Karola Ruth Seigel, was born on 4 June 1928 in Wiesenfeld, Germany.
At age 10 she was sent to Switzerland to escape WWII. She was the sole survivor of her family, who died in the Holocaust.
Westheimer was married three times and has a daughter, Miriam, and a son, Joel.
She obtained a doctorate from Columbia University and went on to teach sex education at Lehman College in the Bronx and Planned Parenthood.
Throughout her life, Westheimer encouraged people to openly discuss sex and sexuality.
"I still hold old-fashioned values and I'm a bit of a square," she said in 2002. "Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about."
Westheimer's media career began in 1980 when she started hosting a call-in radio program called Sexually Speaking. By 1983 it was one of the top-rated shows around the country, and she was given her own television programme, The Dr Ruth Show, which ran from 1984 to 1991.
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