The Ruth Westheimer that fellow residents of her Manhattan apartment building knew was much the same person known to America as Dr. Ruth: gregarious, funny, peppy and apt to throw out a provocative question in the elevator. “She was the most well-loved person who lived here,” said Geoffrey Katin, 81, a longtime resident of the building, in Washington Heights. Dr. Westheimer, who died on Friday at 96, was America’s best-known sex therapist. But her explicit and direct advice, delivered in a casual and jovial manner, was not just for the cameras. Neighbors enjoyed bumping into her in the building, never certain how she might strike up a conversation.

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Persons: Ruth Westheimer, Ruth, ”, Geoffrey Katin, Westheimer, Peter Sparrow Locations: Manhattan, America, Washington Heights