Obituary: Robert E. Cooke, Doctor Who Shepherded Head Start

Robert E. Cooke, a pediatrician and adviser to presidents who played key roles in the War on Poverty and the launch of Head Start, died Feb. 2 at his home on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, The New York Times reported Tuesday. He was 93.

While serving as chief pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the late 1950s, Dr. Cooke began an association with Eunice Kennedy Shriver and R. Sargent Shriver, then-Sen. John F. Kennedy’s sister and brother-in-law. Dr. Cooke served on President Kennedy’s transition team, advising on health and Social Security, and joined Mr. Shriver in working on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s signature anti-poverty effort.

In the latter role, Dr. Cooke headed the committee that formulated Head Start. Since its launch in 1965, the largely nonprofit-run program for early education, nutrition, and health has served more than 31 million children, mostly from low-income families.