Two of the biggest names of the 1980s have died in the past day. First was the announcement that Dr. Ruth Westheimer, known as "Dr. Ruth," the tiny but exuberant sex therapist who was a media staple of the 1980s, died yesterday at the age of 96. No cause of death was given.
Westheimer was born Karola Ruth Siegel on June 4, 1928, in Wiesenfeld, Germany.
A Jewish refugee, Westheimer called herself “an orphan of the Holocaust” after losing her entire family during World War II. Her father, Julius, was taken away by the Nazis in 1938. Approximately six weeks later, her mother and grandmother put her on a train to Switzerland as part of the ‘”kindertransport,” the organized escape of thousands of Jewish children out of Germany.
After the war, she emigrated to Palestine in 1945, where she began going by her middle name, Ruth, and was trained to be a sniper for the Israeli Army.
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Another big name from the 1980s, fitness guru Richard Simmons, has died at the age of 76. He is believed to have died last night, his 76th birthday, when he fell. That is speculation, however. His cause of death is being investigated. He was found early today unresponsive.
Like Dr. Ruth, he was everywhere in the media in the 1980s. However, in more recent years, he lived a more secluded life.
Simmons grew up in New Orleans and weighed 268 pounds when he graduated high school, according to his website, which added that he "took control of his weight" by changing his lifestyle to include moderate eating and exercise.
From there, he took his talents to the West coast, moving to Los Angeles in 1973, where he was unable to find a gym that "wasn’t for people who were already in shape," according to his website. So, Simmons took it upon himself to create one, and SLIMMONS in Beverly Hills was opened in 1974.
It was at SLIMMONS where he taught classes and hosted seminars until 2013, his website said. His success also led to his own nationally syndicated series, "The Richard Simmons Show," which ran for four years and earned multiple Emmy awards.
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