Sidney W. Bijou
November 12, 1908 to June 11, 2009

by Howard Sloane

"A peaceful, natural death, as he was getting ready for another day. A life well lived to the very last moment," wrote Bob and Jude of their father, Sidney W. Bijou, pioneer in behavioral and developmental psychology, early childhood education, and research administration. He passed away on June 11, 2009, at age 100 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Bijou’s early training was in fairly traditional clinical work. After working with B.F. Skinner at Indiana University in 1948, he went to the University of Washington and directed the Institute for Child Development. The Institute’s programs on normal and atypical development laid the groundwork for a behavior analytic approach to child development, and were a major influence on what we do today. With Donald M. Baer (1931-2002) he published on human development, laying out the behavioral principles on which all current work in development is based.

Where others saw divisions, Sid saw entities. Nature and nurture, genetics and learning, behavior analysis and developmental psychology, experimental laboratory work and applied programs, Sid clearly saw how these all depended upon each other, and gently guided those he worked with away from an “either/or” approach.

Sid was a friend and mentor to all who worked with him. He was always willing to stay in the background and let younger people in the field take credit. The magnitude of his contribution is made clear by those pioneers he encouraged, mentored, supported, and befriended: Don Baer, Jay Birnbrauer, Mont Wolf, Todd Risley, Ivar Lovaas, Bob Peterson, Bob Wahler, Rob Hawkins, Hayden Reese, and countless others. Those who knew Sid already sorely miss him. Those who did not were less fortunate, but he has left us all a priceless inheritance.

Much of this brief memoriam is based on a longer piece being prepared by E. K. Morris.