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Leo Kanner, M.D.: June 13, 1894 - April 4, 1981
IN MEMORIAM Leo Kanner, M.D. June 13, 1894 - April 4, 1981 Phipps Clinic. Both Leo Kanner and I worked with Paul Schilder and attended his and Adolf Meyer's daily morning conferences. This was before either of us realized our interest in child psychiatry. While I left Johns Hopkins in the summer of 1939 to follow Paul Schilder to New York and start my own career in child psychiatry, Leo Kanner remained at Johns Hopkins at the request of Adolf Meyer and Professor of Pediatrics, Edward A. Park. This was the beginning of Leo Kanner's very significant work in the field of child psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In 1933 Kanner became an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins and, in 1957, became Professor of Child Psychiatry. When he retired in 1959 he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry. He remained in Baltimore for the rest of his life and continued a high interest in many projects involving children. From the beginning of his appointment in pediatrics and psychiatry he showed unique capacities for leadership, scholarship, and clinical insights, along with an understanding for the problems of human beings at every stage of their development. He is best known for "Kanner's Syndrome of Early Infantile Autism (E.I.A.)," which he first published in 1943 (Kanner, 1943). Thirty years later, he was still publishing followup studies (Kanner and Eisenberg, 1955; Kanner, 1971b; Kanner, 1973). During this period he coauthored many reports with Leon Eisenberg. Although Leo Kanner always emphasized that infantile autism " will be considered as falling in the broad category of the schizophrenias" and "possibly all of them are schizophrenic," he emphasized that this was "a distinct syndrome" and that "they present a phenomenological constellation sui generis" (Kanner, 1949). He also emphasized the coldness and distance in the parent-child relationship. This evoked an extensive literature, including the concept of the "schizophrenogenic mother." Kanner tried to deny this concept, but to no avail . In 1971 he emphasized that: The concluding sentence of the 1943 article (was) "Here we seem to have a pure-culture example of inborn autistic disturbance of affective contact." One can now say unhesitatingly that the assumption has become a certainty. Some people seemed to
Leo Kanner, Professor Emeritus of Child Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Medical School, died last April at the age of 86. I had the privilege of knowing him since 1929, when we worked together at the Phipps Clinic. Kanner was born in Klekotow, Austria. His early education was shaped in part by his Jewish ancestry. After his boyhood Hebraic education he attended the Sophiengymnasium in Berlin, and in 1921 received his M.D. from the University of Berlin. After several years of private practice in Germany, he came to the United States in 1924 to work at the State Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. Three years later, Adolf Meyer invited him to the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic on a 3-year Commonwealth Fellowship. It was there in 1929-when I was working at the Phipps Clinic-that I first met and came to know Leo Kanner. We were at that time both overawed by the great Professor Adolf Meyer, and we both acknowledged in later writings Professor Meyer's seminal thinking on such concepts as "the personality as a whole" and his emphasis on life experiences and culture in the mental illnesses of the patients we examined together. Also at that time Paul Schilder was a Visiting Professor at the 8B
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have completely overlooked this statement, however, and have referred to the author erroneously as an advocate of postnatal "p sychogenicity" (Kanner, 1971a, p. 141). In 1942 Kanner clearly stated his true attitude in his "In Defense of Mothers." His wide interest in childr en and human problems, and his scholarship, are shown well in his textbook Child Psychiatry, first published in 1935 and still widely used as a child psychiatry textbook in this country and in many others. The book is now in the fourteenth printing of its fifth edition. Leo Kanner also showed a great interest in mentally retarded children (Kanner, 1935, 1938, 1971a), and was an activist in their defense (Kanner, 1971a) . He was always available for important projects involving children in the Baltimore area. He was a founder in 1953 of The Children's Guild of Baltimore, a school and therapy program for troubled preschool children and their parents. Kanner himself worked at the Guild, examining children for many years after his retirement from Johns Hopkins. It was at a reception at the Guild in 1974, after I had come to Maryland, that he and I had a public "Dialogue." He exhibited his usual sense of humor and an ever-present cigar. His last public appearance, I believe, less than six weeks before his death, was at a reception at the Guild where I also spoke with him.
Kanner was a founding Editor in 1971 of the Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia (since renamed the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders) and he frequently contributed to it. Leo Kanner maintained a lifelong enthusiasm for helping troubled children and their parents. His patients enjoyed, as did his professional colleagues, his uniquely piquant scholarly concern and the empathic relationship he always established. LAURETTA BENDER, M.D.
References KANNER, L. (1935), Child Psychiatry. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas. - - (1938), Habeus corpus releases of feebleminded persons and their consequences. Amer. J. P sychiat., 94:101 3-1033. - - (1942), Exoneration of the feebl eminded. Amer. J . Psy chiat., 99:17-22 . - - (1943), Autistic disturbances of affe ctive contac t. N ervous Child,3:247-250. - - (1948), Feeblemindedness. N ervous Child, 7:365-397. - - (1949), Early infantile autism. Amer. J. Orthopsychiat., 19: 416-426. - - (1971a), Childhood psychosis. J . Aut. Childh. Schizo., 1:14-19. - - (1971b), Follow-up study of eleven autistic children originally reported in 1943. J . Aut. Childh. S ch izo. 1:119-146. - - (1973), Childhood Psy chosis. Washington and New York: Wiley/Winston. - - & EISENBERG, L. (1955), Notes on the follow-up studies of autistic children . In: Psychopathology of Childhood, ed. P . H. Hoch & J. Zub in. New York: Grone & Stratton.
Leo Kanner, Professor Emeritus of Child Psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Medical School, died last April at the age of 86. I had the privilege of knowing him since 1929, when we worked together at the Phipps Clinic. Kanner was born in Klekotow, Austria. His early education was shaped in part by his Jewish ancestry. After his boyhood Hebraic education he attended the Sophiengymnasium in Berlin, and in 1921 received his M.D. from the University of Berlin. After several years of private practice in Germany, he came to the United States in 1924 to work at the State Hospital in Yankton, South Dakota. Three years later, Adolf Meyer invited him to the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic on a 3-year Commonwealth Fellowship. It was there in 1929-when I was working at the Phipps Clinic-that I first met and came to know Leo Kanner. We were at that time both overawed by the great Professor Adolf Meyer, and we both acknowledged in later writings Professor Meyer's seminal thinking on such concepts as "the personality as a whole" and his emphasis on life experiences and culture in the mental illnesses of the patients we examined together. Also at that time Paul Schilder was a Visiting Professor at the 8B
89
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have completely overlooked this statement, however, and have referred to the author erroneously as an advocate of postnatal "p sychogenicity" (Kanner, 1971a, p. 141). In 1942 Kanner clearly stated his true attitude in his "In Defense of Mothers." His wide interest in childr en and human problems, and his scholarship, are shown well in his textbook Child Psychiatry, first published in 1935 and still widely used as a child psychiatry textbook in this country and in many others. The book is now in the fourteenth printing of its fifth edition. Leo Kanner also showed a great interest in mentally retarded children (Kanner, 1935, 1938, 1971a), and was an activist in their defense (Kanner, 1971a) . He was always available for important projects involving children in the Baltimore area. He was a founder in 1953 of The Children's Guild of Baltimore, a school and therapy program for troubled preschool children and their parents. Kanner himself worked at the Guild, examining children for many years after his retirement from Johns Hopkins. It was at a reception at the Guild in 1974, after I had come to Maryland, that he and I had a public "Dialogue." He exhibited his usual sense of humor and an ever-present cigar. His last public appearance, I believe, less than six weeks before his death, was at a reception at the Guild where I also spoke with him.
Kanner was a founding Editor in 1971 of the Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia (since renamed the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders) and he frequently contributed to it. Leo Kanner maintained a lifelong enthusiasm for helping troubled children and their parents. His patients enjoyed, as did his professional colleagues, his uniquely piquant scholarly concern and the empathic relationship he always established. LAURETTA BENDER, M.D.
References KANNER, L. (1935), Child Psychiatry. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas. - - (1938), Habeus corpus releases of feebleminded persons and their consequences. Amer. J. P sychiat., 94:101 3-1033. - - (1942), Exoneration of the feebl eminded. Amer. J . Psy chiat., 99:17-22 . - - (1943), Autistic disturbances of affe ctive contac t. N ervous Child,3:247-250. - - (1948), Feeblemindedness. N ervous Child, 7:365-397. - - (1949), Early infantile autism. Amer. J. Orthopsychiat., 19: 416-426. - - (1971a), Childhood psychosis. J . Aut. Childh. Schizo., 1:14-19. - - (1971b), Follow-up study of eleven autistic children originally reported in 1943. J . Aut. Childh. S ch izo. 1:119-146. - - (1973), Childhood Psy chosis. Washington and New York: Wiley/Winston. - - & EISENBERG, L. (1955), Notes on the follow-up studies of autistic children . In: Psychopathology of Childhood, ed. P . H. Hoch & J. Zub in. New York: Grone & Stratton.