AVODAH OFFIT

OFFIT--Dr. Avodah K.

Born, November 18, 1931. Daughter of Carrie and Abraham Komito, a lifelong New Yorker, Dr. Offit received her name, signifying "work" in the Hebrew language, as both an identity and an instruction. She dedicated her adult life to helping her patients as a respected and accomplished psychiatrist, and her family as a devoted and loving mother and wife. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Hunter College, marrying Sidney Offit, a young novelist, in 1952, and raising two sons to school age, she enrolled in New York University Medical School, receiving a medical degree in 1967. She completed an internship at Lenox Hill Hospital, her residency at Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of New York Hospital where she joined the staff, and was also a member of the faculty of the Cornell University Medical College. After entering private practice, Dr. Offit was a pioneer in understanding the psychological basis of human sexuality. She defined the emerging field of sex therapy in scholarly books and popular columns and articles in national magazines including Glamour, Vogue and Self. In her elegant office in her family's brownstone on East 69th Street, Dr. Offit wrote three books. "The Sexual Self" (1977) was a critical success, described as "wonderful, strewn with wit and insight," by the The New York Times and The New Republic magazine dubbed Dr. Offit the "Montaigne of human sexuality." She followed with "Night Thoughts, Reflections of a Sex Therapist" in 1981, and a novel "Virtual Love," in 1994. This fictional account of a transcontinental e-mail romance was startling, both for its erotic intensity and the author's prescience in depicting the impact of the internet on how people live, love and communicate. Avodah Offit leaves behind a legion of grateful patients, adoring colleagues and friends, and a deeply loving and loved family. Her life was a master work of art, science and passion, and her husband and collaborator Sidney, sons Kenneth and Michael Offit, their wives Emily Sonnenblick and Dara Mitchell, and her grandchildren Anna, Caroline, Lily, Tristan and Wyatt Offit will mourn her passing but remember her with joy. A memorial tribute will be held at 11:30am, Friday January 30, 2015, at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street.