Ruth Westheimer, America's pioneering sex therapist known as "Dr. Ruth," dies at 96

Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the diminutive sex therapist who became a pop culture icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, has died, her publicist and co-author on several books, Pierre Lehu, confirmed on Saturday to CBS News. She was 96. No cause was noted.

Westheimer never advocated risky sexual behavior. Instead, she encouraged an open dialogue on previously closeted issues that affected her audience of millions. Her one recurring theme was there was nothing to be ashamed of.

"I still hold old-fashioned values and I'm a bit of a square," she told students at Michigan City High School in 2002. "Sex is a private art and a private matter. But still, it is a subject we must talk about."