Shirley Edith Zussman ( Dlugasch; July 23, 1914 – December 4, 2021) was an American sex therapist based in New York City. She was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Early life and education

Zussman was born Shirley Edit Dlugasch on July 23, 1914, in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Zussman's father, Louis Dlugasch, was a doctor, and her mother, Sara, was a surgical nurse. She was raised in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and attended

Girls High School Girls High School is a historically and architecturally notable public secondary school building located at 475 Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It was built in 1886.''Brooklyn: a soup-to-nuts g ...

. Zussman received a bachelor's degree in psychology at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in 1934, and a masters in social work in 1937 from the New York School of Social Work at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She received her doctorate in education in 1969 from

Teachers College, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...

. Zussman was supervised through her graduate dissertation by

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard Co ...

Career

Zussman and her husband, Dr. Leon Zussman, a gynecologist, trained at the

Masters and Johnson Institute The Masters and Johnson Institute (1964–1994) was the clinical and research foundation of sexologist duo Masters and Johnson. Located in Saint Louis, Missouri, the institute was established to study human sexuality with particular emphasis on ...

in the 1960s. The two became directors of the Human Sexuality Center of the Jewish-Hillside Medical Center on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in New York. Their practice centered on communication and developed physical and psychological exercises for their patients. In 1979, they wrote ''Getting Together: A Guide to Sexual Enrichment for Couples'' which was wide-ranging and compassionate. She later had a practice on East 79th Street on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

. She was a two-term President of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists, and co-director of the Human Sexuality Center of Zucker Hillside Hospital. Zussman was also past Director of the Association for Male Sexual Dysfunction. Ruth Westheimer, the German-American sex therapist and talk show host known popularly as Dr. Ruth, studied under Zussman when she taught at

. In her later years, in her practice Zussman often saw people much younger than herself; at age 99 she had patients in their twenties. She continued to practice as a sex therapist at 100 years old as of August 2014.

Personal life

Shirley was married to Leon Zussman (1909–1980). They had two children, a son, Marc Zussman, and a daughter, Carol Sun. Zussman died on December 4, 2021, at the age of 107.

Books and articles

* Zussman, Leon, Shirley Zussman, and Jeremy Brecher. ''Getting Together: A Guide to Sexual Enrichment for Couples''. New York: Morrow, 1979. * Zussman, Leon, and Shirley Zussman. "The treatment of sexual dysfunction: Some theoretical considerations." Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy: On the Cutting Edge of Modern Developments in Psychotherapy (1976). * Whitehead, E. D., Klyde, B. J., Zussman, S., & Salkin, P. (1990). Diagnostic evaluation of impotence. Postgraduate medicine, 88(2), 123–136. * Zussman, L., Zussman, S., Sunley, R., & Bjornson, E. (1981). Sexual response after hysterectomy-oophorectomy: recent studies and reconsideration of psychogenesis. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 140(7), 725–729.

References

1914 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American women 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women Sex therapists American centenarians American people of German-Jewish descent American sex educators German emigrants to the United States People from Berlin Educators from New York City Women centenarians {{Sex-stub