Talmor was a heavy smoker, though he quit smoking 15 years before he died. At the age of 58 he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and the doctors determined that he only had a few months to live. As a result, on August 5, 2011, Talmor ended his life by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland. As he requested, his body was cremated at noon that day and his ashes scattered in a nearby lake.
