In 1996, Porter traveled to Thailand to appear at the Thailand International Jazz Festival. After the festival on November 23, he went boating on the Kratha Taek reservoir in Sai Yok. The boat Porter was traveling on started to sink, and Porter, along with several others, drowned. Porter was survived by his wife and two elementary-aged sons. In 1998, the album For Art's Sake was posthumously released in his honor. It is a compilation album composed of songs from Porter's previous albums, as well as two previously unreleased songs. It also features one song by Jeff Lorber dedicated to Porter.
