March 30, 1988; Tenafly, NJ, USA; Fellow Holocaust survivors Dr. Ruth Westheimer and Fred Rosenberg with his grandson, Scott Halpern, during a lecture Westheimer was giving to Tenafly Middle School students about escaping imprisonment in Germany during World War II on March 30, 1988. When asked by a student how she could talk about such a nightmare, Westheimer replied, "It is not easy to speak of these things. It is much, much easier to talk about sex." Mandatory Credit: Ed Hill-USA TODAY NETWORK
News: Ruth Westheimer
(New York, NY) — Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a sex therapist better known to Americans as “Dr. Ruth” has passed away in New York at age 96. She rocketed to fame back in the 1980’s with her frank talk about sex on a nationally syndicated radio show, called “Sexually Speaking”. At first, Westheimer shocked listeners with very detailed information about sexual acts and diseases, but later she became one that many relied on for solid information about sex and relationships. She continued to give her advice with book and TV appearances right up until her death.
Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel in Wiesenfeld, Germany, on June 4, 1928 into an orthodox Jewish family. The Nazis carted her father away in 1938. Her mother was able to get Ruth sent to a school in the Swiss mountains to get away from the war. Westheimer never saw her family again. She believed they were all murdered by the Nazis. She was a teenager when the war ended and made her way to Palestine and then later to the United States where she married and had children. She is survived by her two children and four grandchildren.
