Urie Bronfenbrenner, a leading scholar in developmental psychology and a founder of the federal Head Start program, died Sept. 25 at his home in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 88 and had diabetes. Mr. Bronfenbrenner spent most of his career at Cornell University, where he was a professor of human development and psychology. His ideas about the “ecology of human development” helped spurred the creation in 1965 of Head Start, the federal program designed for poor preschool-age children and their families.
