Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive guru of the American sexual revolution whose straightforward, matter-of-fact way of discussing the facts of life led to a career as a radio talk-show host, television personality, author and advice expert, died July 12 at her home in New York City. She escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s and was one of the entertainment industry’s last survivors of the Holocaust.

The turning point for her career came in 1980. After giving a lecture to a group of New York broadcasters about the need for sex education programming, WNYN-FM offered her a 15-minute radio show called “Sexually Speaking.” Word spread quickly about the quirky, candid and informative radio host calling herself Dr. Ruth, who offered no-holds-barred advice on sex. By 1983, the program was an hour long and was drawing a quarter-million listeners weekly. The following year, it was syndicated across America. In 1983, “Sexually Speaking” made the leap to television.

As a 10-year-old, she was sent to Switzerland on a kindertransport. Later, she relocated to Palestine, also served in the Israeli army as a sniper. She arrived in New York in 1956. She never saw any of her family again. She learned that her parents were sent to the Lodz Ghetto and killed at Auschwitz.