Dr ruth westheimer biography of mahatma

German-American sex therapist (1928–2024)

Karola Heartache Westheimer (née Siegel; June 4, 1928 – July 12, 2024), better known as Dr. Ruth, was a German and English sex therapist and talk county show host.

Westheimer was born fashionable Germany to a Jewish affinity.

As the Nazis came come to an end power, her parents sent magnanimity 10-year-old girl to a institute in Switzerland for safety stretch they remained behind because disregard her elderly grandmother.^[1] Both were killed in concentration camps. Back end World War II, she emigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine.

Hackneyed 4 feet 7 inches (140 cm) tall enthralled 17 years of age, she joined the Haganah, and was trained as a sniper.^[2] Dissent her 20th birthday, she was wounded in action by require exploding shell during mortar fiery on Jerusalem during the 1947–1949 Palestine War, and almost lacking both feet.

Two years adjacent, Westheimer moved to Paris, Author, where she studied psychology affluence the Sorbonne. Immigrating to illustriousness United States in 1956, she worked as a maid alongside put herself through graduate educational institution, earned a Master of Terrace in sociology from The In mint condition School in 1959, and condign a doctorate at age 42 from Teachers College, Columbia Routine, in 1970.

Over the twig decade, she taught at uncomplicated number of universities and difficult a private sex therapy tradition.

Westheimer's media career began include 1980 with the radio call-in show Sexually Speaking, which spread until 1990. In 1983 raise was the top-rated radio county show in the country's largest relay market.

She then launched first-class television show, The Dr. Affliction Show, which by 1985 affected two million viewers a workweek. She became known for callused serious advice while being straightforward, but also warm, cheerful, epigrammatic, and respectful, and for shun tag phrase: "Get some". Pin down 1984 The New York Times noted that she had risen "from obscurity to almost second stardom."^[3][4] She hosted several entourage on the Lifetime Channel challenging other cable television networks outlander 1984 to 1993.

She became a household name and important cultural figure, appeared on very many network TV shows, co-starred plenty a movie with Gérard Player, appeared on the cover cataclysm People, sang on a Take a break Chapin album, appeared in very many commercials, and hosted Playboy videos. She was the author put a stop to 45 books on sex charge sexuality.

The one-woman 2013 make reference to Becoming Dr. Ruth, written timorous Mark St. Germain, is expansiveness Westheimer's life, as is leadership 2019 documentary, Ask Dr. Ruth, directed by Ryan White. She was inducted into the Put on the air Hall of Fame, and awarded the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal, say publicly Ellis Island Medal of Standing, the Leo Baeck Medal, probity Planned Parenthood Margaret Sanger Trophy haul, and the Order of Virtue of the Federal Republic nominate Germany.

Early life and education

Germany

Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel, on June 4, 1928, charge the small village of Wiesenfeld (now part of Karlstadt gunk Main), in Germany.^[6][7] She was the only child of Not smooth Jews, Irma (née Hanauer), top-notch housekeeper, and Julius Siegel, clean up notions wholesaler and son characteristic the family for whom Irma worked.^[8] From the age rule one, she lived in brush up apartment in Frankfurt with second parents and her paternal grandma, Selma, who was a widow.^[9][10] She was given an untimely grounding in Judaism by counterpart father, who took her unceremoniously to the synagogue in leadership Nordend district of Frankfurt, circle they lived.^[11]

Her father, 38 eld old at the time, was taken away by the Nazis, who sent him to influence Dachau concentration camp a workweek after Kristallnacht, the "Night comment Broken Glass", when Nazis burnt down 10,000 Jewish stores in the same way well as Jewish homes person in charge synagogues, in November 1938.^[12][13][14] She cried while her father was taken away by Gestapo private soldiers who loaded him on out truck, while her grandmother composed the Nazis money, pleading, "Take good care of my son."^[11][15][12]

Switzerland

Westheimer's mother and grandmother decided make certain Nazi Germany was too hardy for her, due to rectitude growing Nazi violence.

Therefore, grand few weeks later, in Jan 1939, they sent her artificial the Kindertransport, an organized Individual children's rescue train to Suisse, though she desperately did mewl want to leave.^[11][16] Ruth, proliferate aged 10, was never hugged again as a child.^[17]

She alighted at an orphanage of smashing Jewish charity in Heiden, Schweiz, as one of 300 Someone children, some as young thanks to six years of age.^[9][18] Impervious to the end of World Conflict II, nearly all of them were orphans, as their parents never made it out preceding Germany and were murdered bid the Nazis.^[18] In the institution she was given cleaning responsibilities and took on the part of a caregiver and mother-like figure to the younger children.^[11] She remained at the orphanhood for six years.^[10] Girls parcel up the orphanage were not lawful to take classes at glory local school.

However, a salad days at the school secretly loaned her his textbooks at hours of darkness so she could read them in secret and continue supreme education.^[15][19]

While at the Swiss institution, Westheimer corresponded with her native and grandmother via letters. Their letters ceased in 1941,^[7][12] just as her parents and her covering grandmother were deported to Łódź Ghetto on 20 October 1941.^[20] There, her father and potentate mother died in 1942.^[21][22] Already learning about this later talk to her life, she had held that her father was murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp-site in 1942.^[23] There is rebuff information about the specific portion of her mother's death.

Emergence the database at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Feelings, Westheimer's mother is categorized renovation verschollen, or "disappeared/murdered".^[23] In uniting to Westheimer's parents, all bank her other relatives lost their lives during the Holocaust.^[5]

For diverse years, she lived with inspiration "irrational guilt"; she thought rove if she had stayed cranium Germany, she could have blest her parents.

Later, she whispered the guilt had been replaced by an admiration for cobble together parents' sacrifice in sending concoct to safety, saying: "I would not have the courage call on send my own children hidden like that."^[7]

Israel

After World War II ended, Westheimer decided to resettle to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine press-gang 16 years of age.^[24][11]After she immigrated to Mandatory Palestine orders September 1945, at the principal of 17, she joined Community Ramat David and worked joke agriculture.

Told her name was too German, she changed disown name from Karola to multifaceted middle name, Ruth and went by Ruth K. Siegel, use Karola as her middle early in case her parents came looking for her.^[25] She "first had sexual intercourse on precise starry night, in a abundance, without contraception."^[26][24][23] She later bad The New York Times consider it "I am not happy walk that, but I know still better now and so does everyone who listens to angry radio program."^[27] Next, she ephemeral on Moshav Nahalal, and run away with, she lived on Kibbutz Yagur.^[26] She then moved to Jerusalem in 1948 to study steady childhood education.^[14][26]

Westheimer joined the Force Jewish Zionist underground paramilitary syndicate (later, the Israel Defense Forces) in Jerusalem.^[29][28][30] Because of respite diminutive height of 4 feet 7 inches (140 cm), she was trained tempt a scout and sniper.^[27][30][31] Supplementary this experience, she said, "I never killed anybody, but Uproarious know how to throw insensitive grenades and shoot."^[32] She became an ace sniper, and highbrow to assemble a rifle break off the dark.^[27][14] When she was 90 years old, she demonstrated that she was still bound to be to put together a Glint gun with her eyes closed.^[33]

In 1948, on her 20th Westheimer was seriously wounded envelop action by an exploding hulk during a mortar fire argue on Jerusalem during the 1947–1949 Palestine war; the explosion handle two girls who were pure next to her.^[34][30][26] Temporarily paralytic and with two injured legs (one missing a top portion), she spent months in clean up recuperative ward before walking again.^[35][36][37] In 2018 she said rove she still visited Israel ever and anon year, and felt that was her real home, gleam the following year said put off she was and is orderly Zionist.^[26][38]

France

In 1950, at the medium of 22, Westheimer married streak moved to France with give someone the cold shoulder first husband, David Bar-Haim, key Israeli soldier who had anachronistic accepted to medical school prize open Paris.^[11][39][25] There, she studied looney under psychologist Jean Piaget have an effect on the University of Paris (the Sorbonne), and earned an apprentice degree despite not having abstruse a high school education^[40][41][42] point of view supported herself by teaching kindergarten.^[39] She then taught psychology move the Sorbonne.^[42][43] Her first add-on ended as Bar-Heim eventually gave up his studies and confident to return to Israel deep-rooted Westheimer remained in Paris make somebody's acquaintance continue her studies.

They divorced in 1955.^[25]

United States

In 1956, utilize consume a 5,000 German marksrestitution withdraw paid by the German management to children whose education was disrupted by the Holocaust, she immigrated to the United States with her French boyfriend, Dan Bommer, settling in Washington Apogee, Manhattan.

They married and difficult a daughter, Miriam, but any minute now divorced.^{[39][25][44][45][46]} She worked as spick maid, initially for 75 cents an hour and later sustenance one dollar an hour (equal to $11.21 today) to not keep to herself through graduate school.^[47][48][49]

Westheimer just an M.A.

degree in sociology from The New School family tree 1959, with the help make acquainted a scholarship.^[47][50] She was a-okay single mother, and an class named Jewish Family Service remunerative for her then-three-year-old daughter gap stay with a foster kinship during the day and laugh at to a German Jewish Correct nursery school while Westheimer high-sounding and went to classes pressurize The New School.^[51] In 1970, at 42 years old, she received a Doctor of Instruction (Ed.D.) degree in Family-Life Studies from Teachers College, Columbia Academy with the help of topping scholarship, studying under Shirley Zussman.^[52][24][53] She then trained as top-hole sex therapist at the Different York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center/Cornell Therapeutic School, working for seven length of existence under sex therapist Helen Cantor Kaplan, two years training botched job her and five years preparation others.^[54][42][55]

In 1965, Westheimer became skilful naturalized U.S.

citizen.^[56] In 1961, she married for the gear time^[25] She regained her Teutonic citizenship in 2007 through position German Citizenship Project that enabled descendants of Germans deprived past its best their citizenship during Nazi produce to reclaim their citizenship in want losing the citizenship of their home country.^[57][58]

Early career

After receiving give someone the cold shoulder doctorate, Westheimer briefly worked carry Planned Parenthood in Harlem upbringing women to teach sex care, and this experience encouraged socialize to continue studying human sexuality.^[11][19] She went on to duty as a postdoctoral researcher catch New York-Presbyterian Hospital.^[36] She lengthened to work there as brush adjunct associate professor for cinque years.

She also taught follow Lehman College, Brooklyn College, Orion College, Adelphi University, Columbia Origination, Yale University, Princeton University, Advanced York University, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medicine, shaft West Point.^[59][60][61] She treated intimacy therapy patients in a concealed practice, on East 73rd Coordination on the Upper East Account of Manhattan.^[61][9]

Media career

Described as "Grandma Freud" and the "Sister Wendy of Sexuality", Westheimer helped inspire talk about sex and sex on radio and television, support for speaking openly about erotic issues.^[63] She fielded questions far-reaching from women who did need have orgasms, to the crush time of day to suppress sex (the morning), to private soldiers with premature ejaculations, to stimulation, to oral sex, to propagative fantasies ("embrace them"; "If pointed want to believe that swell whole football team is in vogue bed with you, that's fine"), to masturbation, to erections, come to sexual positions, to the G-spot.^[62][64][65] She stressed that: "anything make certain two consenting adults do twist the privacy of their come-hither or kitchen floor is try to make an impression right with me".^[61][66] Asked unadorned question as to having mating with an animal, she responded: "I'm not a veterinarian."^[67] She spoke out against engaging hurt any sexual activity under trauma, and against pedophilia.^[62] She literary her listeners about sexually transmissible diseases,^[68][69][61] and spoke out stalwartly in favor of having coitus, in favor of contraception found used, in favor of depiction availability of abortion as apartment building aid for contraception failures, interject favor of sex within broker rather than one-night stands, fit into place favor of funding for Primed Parenthood, and in favor incline research on AIDS.

She became known for giving serious notification while being candid and brilliant, but warm, cheerful, and respectful; and for her tag phrase: "Get some."^[61][70][71] Journalist Joyce Wadler described her as a "world class charmer".^[72]

One journalist described concoct voice as "a cross in the middle of Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse".^[73] She was noted for gaining "an accent only a advisor could love", one that was "dripping chicken soup."^[63][42][74]

In 1984 The New York Times noted defer on radio the 55-year-old difficult risen "from obscurity to nominal instant stardom."^[75] Journalist Jeannette Catsoulis wrote later in The Pristine York Times, "It's hard appreciation explain how revolutionary her intellect, candor and sexual explicitness seemed for the time."^[76]

1980–1989

Westheimer's media career began in 1980 when she was 52 duration old, and her radio event, Sexually Speaking, debuted on WYNY-FM in New York City. The same it, she answered questions hailed in by listeners, and honesty show became nationally syndicated.^[44][11][78] She was offered the opportunity fend for she gave a lecture prospect New York broadcasters about distinction need for sex education programing to help deal with issues of contraception and unwanted pregnancies.

Betty Elam, the community account manager at WYNY, was pompous with her talk and offered Westheimer $25 per week vertical make Sexually Speaking, which in motion as a 15-minute show notification every Sunday at midnight, which was historically a dead time.^[79][80]

By 1981, as the show interested 250,000 listeners every week in spite of the network not doing popular promotion for it—growing simply do without word of mouth—it was lenghty to be one hour progressive on Sunday nights, starting whet 10 pm.^[80][44][65] It was presently picked up by 90 class across the United States, presentday it ran for a decade.^[9][65] The show broke taboos pick up the check the time against speaking freely and explicitly about sex.^[81]The Creative York Times described it pass for one of the station's "oddest shows", and among its power supply draws.^[82][61] A New York Practice professor of human sexuality plain listening to her show uncluttered class assignment.^[61] When the cause to be in offered a "Dr.

Ruth T-shirt" ("Sex on Sunday? You Bet!"), it received 3,500 orders.^[61][83]

By 1982, her show was WYNY's top-rated phone-in talk show.^[84] Singer Pattie Brooks recorded a song laugh an ode to her, "Dr. Ruth," with a trendy, dance-rock tinged, high pressure beat.^[85][86][87]

By 1983 her show was the top-rated radio show in the country's largest radio market.^[88] In 1984 NBC Radio began syndicating excellence radio program nationwide—it was at once heard in 93 markets.^[49] She went on to produce take five radio show until 1990.^[89]

In 1984, Westheimer began hosting several press programs on the Lifetime Telly network, and one in patchwork.

Her first show was Good Sex! With Dr. Ruth Westheimer, airing for a half age at 10 pm on weeknights. She ended each show by reminding her audience: "Have good sex!"^[90]

The show was expanded in 1985 to a full hour, lecture its name was changed obtain The Dr. Ruth Show. All along each of her live shows, 3,000 callers tried to project through, and the show affected an average of 450,000 meeting a night, double the assignation previously watching at that period, and attracted more viewers mystify any other show on Lifetime; that number rose to brace million homes a week.^[90][49][91] Extract April 1985 she appeared intensification the cover of People.^[62] Ditch year she also appeared translation an actress in the Country romantic comedy film Une Femme ou Deux (One Woman umpire Two), starring Gérard Depardieu concentrate on Sigourney Weaver, playing the finish off of a wealthy philanthropist.^[92]

Dr.

Ruth's Game of Good Sex was released in 1985.^[93][94] A Metropolis distributor said: "I'm going exchange have to compare this total Trivial Pursuit. The orders dwarf anything we've had in evenhanded company's 100-year history."^[83]Dr. Ruth's Figurer Game of Good Sex was a hit, released in 1986 for the Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and Apple II.^[95][96][97]

In 1987, she began a separate half-hour syndicated series on many broadcast position called Ask Dr.

Ruth, which was co-hosted by Larry Angelo. Westheimer's friend Eleanor Bergstein, ethics writer of the 1987 dreamy drama dance film Dirty Dancing, attempted to cast her fall foul of play Mrs. Schumacher in authority film (with Joel Grey little her husband).^[98][99] She backed alarm bell when she learned the sense is a thief.^{[100][101][61]}

She appeared celebrate a TV Guide cover fasten 1988.

Dr. Ruth returned like the Lifetime network in 1988 with The All New Dr. Ruth Show. That was followed in 1989 by two puerile advice shows called What's Lynch, Dr. Ruth?, and a call-in show, You're on the Curved with Dr. Ruth in 1990.^[102] That year she also exposed in an episode of birth television series Tall Tales & Legends as the "Mysterious Stranger."

During the 1980s, "Dr.

Ruth" became a household name lecturer a major cultural figure; midst the 1980s and 1990s, she made frequent guest appearances anger several network television shows, inclusive of Late Night with David Letterman, and appeared on talk shows on German television.^[103][104] She was portrayed on Saturday Night Live by Mary Gross in "Saturday Night News" four times hold back 1983, and twice in 1984; was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carsontwice in 1982, once in 1983, three times in 1984, twice over in 1985 – in added to to being impersonated in grand "Mighty Carson Art Players" turn, and once in 1986; bump Joan Rivers: Can We Talk? twice in 1986; seven time as a panelist on interpretation game show The New Indecent Squares in 1986–87; on The Arsenio Hall Show once shrub border 1989; on The Joan Rivers Show once in 1989; attend to on Live with Regis countryside Kathie Lee in both 1989 and 1990.

In 1987, she made a TV commercial merriment Signal mouthwash.^{[105][106][107]}

1990–1999

In 1990, Westheimer asterisked in an ABC sitcom initiatory, Dr. Ruth's House, which very soon as a one-time special manner June of that year.^[108][109] ABC did not move forward lead to turning the pilot into capital series.

In 1993, Westheimer promote Israeli TV host Arad Nir hosted a talk show observe Hebrew titled Min Tochnit, bring to light the newly opened Israeli Passage 2. The show was corresponding to her U.S. Sexually Speaking show. The name of rectitude show, Min Tochnit, is uncluttered play on words: literally "Kind of a program", but "Min" (מין) in Hebrew also register "sex" and "gender".^[110] 1993 arena 1994 saw the publication register "Dr.

Ruth's Good Sex Night-to-Night Calendar."^[111]

In 1994, she appeared coach in a computer game, an communal CD-ROM adaptation of Dr. Ruth's Encyclopedia of Sex released defence Windows and a Philips CD-i.^{[112][113][114]}

In 1995, she hosted a followers of Playboy instructional videos favoured "Making Love".

She also wrote a column distributed both state and internationally by the Drive Features Syndicate.^[5][59] In 1996, she co-authored Heavenly Sex, on Hebraism and sex, in which she wrote: "The great rabbi Patriarch ben-Halafta called the penis depiction great peacemaker of the home."^[5] She referred to the Volume of Ruth as encouraging free women to initiate sex (providing the relationship leads to marriage), cited a Talmudic mandate dump an unemployed man must brand name love to his wife all day, and mentioned the data of a 12th-century rabbi who suggested that couples use contrastive positions while having sex.^[5]

In 1992, she was a guest familiarity on the television soap oeuvre One Life to Live.

She appeared as herself in "Dr. Ruth", a 1993 episode unravel the sci-fi drama series Quantum Leap.^[115] She appeared on authority BBC radio show Desert Isle Discsin 1990; on The Arsenio Hall Show once in 1990, once in 1991, once patent 1993, and once in 1994; on The Howard Stern Show once in 1991; on Late Night with Conan O'Brienonce tight 1994, twice in 1995, duo times in 1996, and promptly in 1997; on The Everyday Showonce in 1998; and was featured in a Celebrity Deathmatch episode in 1999.^{[116][117][118][119][120][121]}

Westheimer also developed in several commercial advertisements, as well as a 1990 commercial for ClairolHerbal Essences shampoo and body sink, a 1991 Pepsi commercial (along with Annette Funicello, Frankie Joy, Bo Jackson, and Gilbert Gottfried), and a 1994 Honda Onset ad.^{[122][123][124]}

2000–2009

In 2000, she appeared market leader Grammy Award winner Tom Chapin's album This Pretty Planet, huddle together the song "Two Kinds have a high regard for Seagulls", in which she countryside Chapin sing in a dance of various animals that repeat sexually.^[125] "It takes two cuddle tingle" says the song.^[126] Stroll year, she also made well-ordered TV commercial for Entenmann's Sibilance Danish Twist.^[127]

Between 2001 and 2007, Westheimer made regular appearances ambition the PBS children's television followers Between the Lions as "Dr.

Ruth Wordheimer" in a pasquinade of her therapist role, mediate which she helps anxious readers and spellers overcome their unease of long words. In 2002, she received a nomination lend a hand a Grammy Award for Pre-eminent Spoken Word Album for Race, for Timeless Tales and Concerto of Our Time.^[128] In 2003–04, she made 10 appearances gorilla a panelist on the amusement show Hollywood Squares.

In 2004, she made a guest creation on Wait Wait... Don't Recount Me!, an NPR news venire game, and in 2007 she appeared onLive with Regis discipline Kelly. In January 2009, illustriousness 55th anniversary issue of Playboy magazine included Westheimer as #13 in a list of character 55 most important people escort sex from the past 55 years.^[129] That year, Vanity Fair named her one of "12 women who changed the run off we look at sex."^[15] She also appeared in the 2009 documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Crusader and Rebel.^[130]

2010–2024

In 2011, interior architect Nate Berkus hosted her portion The Nate Berkus Show, sustenance redoing the living room stall dining room of her Borough apartment, in which she challenging lived for 50 years, build up reduce clutter.^{[131][132][133]} She appeared pass for a guest on The Doctors in 2011 and 2012, leave out Joy Behar: Say Anything! notes 2012, on Rachael Ray modern 2013 and 2015, and business The Today Show in 2015 and 2019.

In 2018, she wrote three books.^[76] In 2019, she published her 45th retain on sex and sexuality.^[26] Application her 91st birthday, June 4, 2019, Westheimer appeared as practised guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and she visited Ellen's show again in November 2019, taking questions from the rendezvous, and was also a boarder in November 2020.^[134][135] In 2019, she was a guest simulation Late Night with Seth Meyers, The View, The Today Show, and twice on Strahan, Sara and Keke.^{[136][137][138]} She also confidential over 100,000 followers on Twitter.^[29]

Speaking of the Holocaust in 2021, Westheimer said: "We must disobey saying to the young common, 'Think of these words — never again!

Never again!' Reduction of this must never set about again."^[13]

Speeches and ethnography

Westheimer delivered creation speeches at the Hebrew Wholeness accord Collegeseminary, Lehman College of honourableness City University of New Dynasty and, in 2004, at Three times as much College, where she was awarded honorary degrees.^[139][60] She also was the guest speaker at influence Bronx High School of Branch in New York in retention of Yom HaShoah 2008.^[60]

Westheimer was an accomplished ethnographer.

Her studies in this field included primacy Ethiopian Jews, Papua New Guinea's Trobriand Islanders, and the Disciple, a sect originating from Shia Islam now residing in Country, Syria, and Lebanon. The latter-day were the subjects of subtract 2007 PBS documentary The Olive and the Tree: The Redden Strength of the Druze, president a book of the exact title.^[140][141] She was also goodness Executive Producer for PBS documentaries Surviving Salvation and No Shy defective Link, Shifting Sands: Bedouin Corps at the Crossroads, and The Unknown Face of Islam (on the Circassians).^[111]

Westheimer was a plank member of the Museum disbursement Jewish Heritage in Lower Borough in New York City.^[142][15]

Play additional documentary

In Oct 2013 the one-woman play Becoming Dr. Ruth, written by Gunshot St. Germain and directed brush aside Julianne Boyd and set be glad about 1997, opened Off Broadway drowsy the Westside Theatre.^[14][143] Actress Debra Jo Rupp played the separate of Dr.

Ruth.^[143] The segment showcased the sex therapist's sure from fleeing the Nazis false the Kindertransport and joining rendering Haganah in Jerusalem as practised scout and sniper, to the brush struggles to succeed as fine single mother coming to probity United States.^[144]Eileen DeSandre played Dr.

Ruth in the Virginia Duplicating Theatre production of Becoming Dr. Ruth.^[145] In 2021, actress Tovah Feldshuh played Dr. Ruth.^[146]

In 2019, the documentary Ask Dr. Ruth directed by Ryan White was in theaters, and was undemanding available on Hulu, as she approached her 90th birthday.^[147][148] array won a 4th Critics' Pick Documentary Award in 2019 hoot "Most Compelling Living Subject be more or less a Documentary," and was spick 19th AARP Movies for Grownups Awards nominee in 2019 characterise "Best Documentary."^[149][150] Having previously not sought out discussing her early years remarkable how the Holocaust affected disgruntlement family and herself, Westheimer putative that current events made in peace necessary for her to "stand up and be counted".

She said that seeing child refugees being separated from their parents upset her, because her household story was reflected in what they were going through.^[151]

Accolades

Some previous before 1983, Westheimer was compelled a non-physician Fellow of say publicly New York Academy of Medicine.^[152]

In 2008, Westheimer's name was speed up to the Bronx Walk forged Fame (as the first "Honorary Bronxite," chosen for contributions build up the life of the borough).^[153] In 2010 she was notion a member of the Squad in Technology International Hall heed Fame.^[154] In 2017 she was inducted into the German-American Pass of Fame.^[155] In 2019, she was inducted into the Crystal set Hall of Fame.^[88]

Westheimer was labelled 1983 Jewish Woman of Feat by a consortium of organizations connected with the Federation carefulness Jewish Philanthropies in New Dynasty, received the 1986 Mayor's Selfrule Award from New York Municipality Mayor Ed Koch, and was given the 1987 Motion Imagine Theater Bookers Association Star invite Tomorrow Award.

Her show The All New Dr. Ruth Show won a 1988 Ace Trophy haul, and was awarded the 1994 Magnus Hirschfeld Medal and rendering 1995 American Academy of Clinical Sexology Medal of Sexology.^{[156][157][158]} Provide 2002, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, likewise well as the Leo Baeck Medal for her humanitarian check up promoting tolerance and social service, in 2006 the Columbia Sanatorium Teacher's College Medal For Momentous Services, in 2012 the Official Alliance on Mental Illness Altruist Mental Health Research Advocacy Premium, in 2013 the Planned ParenthoodMargaret Sanger Award, and in 2019 the Order of Merit allround the Federal Republic of Deutschland and the James Parks Jazzman Interfaith Award.^{[59][159][160]} The Library pointer Congress acquired her papers escort 2022.^[161]

In 2000 Westheimer received nickel-and-dime honorary doctorate from Hebrew Conjoining College, in 2001 an voluntary Doctor of Humane Letters quotient from Lehman College, in 2008 an honorary doctorate from Westfield State University, in 2014 archetypal honorary Doctor of Humanities rank from Trinity College in Usa, and in 2019 an title only doctorate from Ben Gurion Home of the Negev (she remarked: "I wish I had reduce Ben Gurion.

He was short.").^{[162][59][163]}

In 2023, Westheimer received the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Psychology Pioneer Stakes from the United Nations.^[164]

Personal man and death

Westheimer was married yoke times, the first time wide Israeli soldier and medical disciple David Bar-Heim for five majority, and the second time curtly to Dan Bommer, with whom she had her daughter, Miriam, who later took the ultimate name of her stepfather.^[25][37][54] She said each of her marriages played an important role hamper her relationship advice, but back end two divorces it was become public third marriage, at age 32 to fellow Holocaust survivor Manfred 'Fred' Westheimer, that was primacy "real marriage".^[44][81][32] She met Fred on a ski tow increase the Catskills.^[5] Fred, too, locked away escaped Nazi Germany.^[165] When Diane Sawyer, interviewing the couple staging the TV show 60 Minutes asked her husband about their sex life, he answered, "The shoemaker's children have no shoes."^[12] Their marriage lasted 36 adulthood, until his death in 1997.^[54]

She had two children: Dr.

Miriam Yael Westheimer, an educator, columnist, and chief program officer faultless HIPPY International, which develops anciently childhood education and literacy programs,^[166] and who lived in Zion for six years and closest married Joel Henry Einleger, distinguished Joel Westheimer, a professor view the University of Ottawa; she had four grandchildren.^{[32][60][167]} She said: "I was so short – 4 feet 7 inches – that I couldn't believe meander anything could grow inside work at me."^[168]

Westheimer spoke English, German, Sculpturer, and Hebrew.^[2]

In December 2014, Westheimer was a guest at expert wedding in the Bronx.

Grandeur groom, Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt, was the great-grandson of the girl who had helped rescue Westheimer from Nazi Germany.^[169]

Among her handiwork in the 21st century was loneliness of people.^[69] In 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul of Another York appointed Westheimer as leadership inaugural "Loneliness Ambassador".^[170]

In her encouragement years, Westheimer lived in integrity cluttered three-bedroom apartment on Hundredandninetieth Street "in Washington Heights at she raised her two descendants and became famous, in turn order".^[172] She stayed there, she said in 1995, to superiority near the two synagogues livestock which she was a colleague (one of which is excellence Reform synagogue the Hebrew Sanctuary Congregation of Washington Heights, forward the other of which appreciation Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel star as Riverdale; she was also on the rocks member of the Orthodox asylum Ohav Shalom until it closed), the YMHA of Washington High and Inwood of which she was president for 11 time, and a "still sizable humans of German Jewish World Clash II refugees".^{[45][173][174]} She explained: "Because of my experience with grandeur Holocaust, I don't like sort out lose friends."^[5]

Westheimer died at recede home in Manhattan on July 12, 2024, at the lifetime of 96.^{[175][176][177]}

Publications