James Garbarino, expert on childhood trauma, dies at 78

James Garbarino, MAT '70, Ph.D. '73, professor emeritus of human development and a renowned expert on childhood trauma, died March 7 in Ithaca. He was 78.

His research focused on the social ecology of child and adolescent development, with a long-standing interest in violence-related issues - including war, child maltreatment, childhood aggression and juvenile delinquency. He applied this expertise for more than 30 years as a psychological expert witness in murder trials, including resentencing hearings for juvenile offenders. He also conducted UNICEF missions to assess the impact of the Gulf War on children in Kuwait and Iraq, and served as a consultant for programs serving Vietnamese, Bosnian and Croatian children.

"Jim sought to teach a broad audience about how violence, in all its forms, has a profound effect on children and youth, while also reminding us of the humanity and resilience of the victims of violence and neglect," said John Eckenrode, professor emeritus of human development, who co-authored the 1980 book "Understanding Abusive Families" with Garbarino. "In Jim's eyes, no child was entirely lost if we opened our hearts and minds to them."

A 1968 graduate of St. Lawrence University, Garbarino earned his Ph.D. at Cornell under the tutelage of Urie Bronfenbrenner, the legendary professor in the College of Human Ecology and the co-founder of the Head Start program. Garbarino was appointed to the Elizabeth Lee Vincent Professorship of Human Development in 1999 and served from 1994 to 2003 as director of the Family Life Development Center in the College of Human Ecology, which merged with the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center in 2011 to become the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.

Previously, Garbarino was a fellow at the Boys Town Center in Omaha, Nebraska. He then became an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University, and served as president of the Erikson Institute in Chicago.

Garbarino moved to Loyola University Chicago from 2006 to 2020, serving as the Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology, and founded the Center for the Human Rights of Children.

Garbarino published more than 25 books, including "Lost Boys: Why our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them" in 1999, which published one day after the Columbine school shooting and catapulted Garbarino onto the national stage as an expert on youth violence, according to Jane Powers, Ph.D. '85, former director of ACT for Youthin the BCTR. Powers was working with Garbarino on a project called "Making Sense of Senseless Youth Violence" at that time.

"Jim was a gifted - indeed brilliant - speaker who had the ability to take complex ideas and make them accessible to a wide range of audiences, including academics, practitioners, educators and the general public," Powers said.

Other books by Garbarino include "Millers' Children: Why Giving Teenage Killers a Second Chance Matters for All of Us" (2018), "Listening to Killers: Lessons Learned from My 20 Years as a Psychological Expert Witness in Murder Cases" (2015) and "No Place to Be a Child: Growing Up in a War Zone" (1991).

Garbarino's many awards and honors included the first C. Henry Kempe Award in 1985, for efforts on behalf of abused and neglected children from the National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect. In 2018, he was recognized by the American Psychological Association as one of 33 influential psychologists for his work on trauma. He also had an extensive career as an expert witness in criminal cases involving trauma and violence.

He is survived by his wife Claire; sons Josh and Eric; daughter Jo; and siblings John and Karen. A memorial service is scheduled for April 11 at 4 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, 306 North Aurora Street. A livestreamof the service is available. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to two organizations close to Garbarino: the Life School, in Panajachel, Guatemala, or Save The Elephants.

Juan Vazquez-Leddon is director of communications for the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.