Dr. Avodah 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, Dr. Offit wrote three books. "The Sexual Self" (1977) was a critical success, described as "wonderful, strewn with wit and insight," by 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.