On April 3, 1981, Kanner died of heart failure in Sykesville, Maryland. In his lifetime, Kanner founded the field of child psychiatry and his research contributions laid the foundation for the fields of psychology, pediatrics, autism, and adolescent psychiatry. He is now known as the "Father of Child Psychiatry". Kanner was the first physician in the United States to be identified as a child psychiatrist. His textbook, "Child Psychiatry" (1935) was the first English language textbook to focus on the psychiatric problems on children. In 1943, Kanner first described the syndrome of early infantile autism. His concise and cogent clinical descriptions of children with autism continues to inform, and is the standard against which current diagnostic criteria are measured. In his lifetime, Kanner published over 250 articles and eight books spanning the fields of psychiatry, pediatrics, psychology and history of medicine.