 He was awarded the Eastman Kodak Gold Medal Award in 1984.He taught at Yale University (1969-1972), York University (1972–73) and New York University from 1973 until his death in New York on February 15, 1988, of heart failure.He was professor and dissertation advisor to noted film historian, Charles H. Harpole (creator of the ten volume History of American Cinema, dedicated to Leyda); leading film theorist, Tom Gunning; and scholar-practitioner Charles Musser.