Dr. Norman Talner

1925 - 2017

Dr. Norman S. Talner

September 28, 1925 - August 17, 2017

Chapel Hill

Norman Talner died on August 17 at the Pines at Carolina Meadows following a lengthy decline. He had been a resident of Fearrington Village since 1992 before moving to Carolina Meadows in 2010.

Shortly after he was born in 1925, Dr. Talner's family moved to New Rochelle, NY, where his father opened a jewelry store, which still exists, and where he attended public schools. In 1943 he entered the University of Michigan under the Navy V-12 program, earning a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1945 and a medical degree in 1947.

He completed an internship and residency at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1951 returned to the University of Michigan for a residency in pediatrics at University Hospital. From 1952 to 1954 he served as a captain in the U.S Air Force, training medical personnel about communicable disease control during the Korean War at the School of Aviation Medicine in Montgomery, Alabama. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1954 and completed a two-year fellowship in pediatric cardiology—he was the first such trainee at the University of Michigan.

In 1960 Dr. Talner was appointed assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale and served as director of pediatric cardiology for 22 years and professor of pediatrics for 17 years. After taking a sabbatical in Chapel Hill at the Board of Pediatrics, he was recruited to Duke as clinical professor of pediatrics, a post he held until being granted emeritus status in 2007. He served as interim chief of pediatric cardiology at Duke from 1995 to 1996.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Talner co-authored hundreds of publications and received many honors, including the Cardiology Founder's Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the 2009 Distinguished Service Award from the University of Michigan's Medical Center Alumni Society. The pediatrics cardiology library and conference room at Yale is named for him. He was awarded dozens of visiting professorships in the U.S. and abroad.

Norman Talner loved playing sports, particularly tennis and golf, and he liked to watch championship tennis and golf on TV. He enjoyed attending basketball games at Duke and watching them on TV. He also loved music of all kinds—from jazz to big band to classical. He was proud of playing trumpet in the U of M marching band.

Following graduation from medical school he married Trudy Levi, who predeceased him in 2002. He is survived by his wife, Frances Sherwin, whom he married in 2004, and three daughters: Nancy Talner of Seattle WA, Ellen Zuerndorfer of Clearwater FL, and Lauren Spiliotes and her husband Nicholas of Bethesda MD, and six grandchildren.