NEW YORK -- Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a media star and bestselling author, has died. She was 96.
Westheimer died Friday at her New York City home, surrounded by her family, according to publicist and friend Pierre Lehu.
Westheimer encouraged open dialogue on previously closeted issues that affected her audience of millions.
"Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about," she told students at Michigan City High School in 2002.
Her extensive knowledge and training, coupled with her humorous, nonjudgmental manner, catapulted her local radio program, "Sexually Speaking," into the national spotlight in the early 1980s.
Westheimer's radio success opened new doors, and in 1983, she wrote the first of more than 40 books: "Dr.