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Dr. Julius Richmond, 91; helped create Head Start program  

Dr. Julius Richmond, the pediatrician who helped create Project Head Start and later, as surgeon general, issued a 1979 report on the health risks of smoking that led to more informative warning labels on cigarette packs, died of cancer Sunday at his home near Boston. He was 91.

"Dr. Richmond was one of the giants in our field," said Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "He was a wonderful role model for pediatric leaders in the U.S. and throughout the world." . . .

He formally retired in 1988 but continued to teach, write and do research. He also served as an expert witness in several class-action suits against the tobacco industry, including one by flight attendants.

"We are in the midst of the largest man-made epidemic in history, and that is lung cancer," he later said.

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