Elizabeth S. Talbot died July 17 at the Tippett Hospice Home in Needham after a short, brave battle with renal cancer. She was 80.

Born Jane Elizabeth Speakman on Jan. 11, 1938 to George Dixon Speakman and Jane Cunningham Speakman and raised in Short Hills, N.J., Ms. Talbot was a 1959 graduate of Mount Holyoke College. Her marriage that year to Allan Talbot ended in divorce.

She lived for the past 30 years in South Orleans, Reading and Oak Bluffs after raising her family in White Plains, N.Y.

Known as Liz or Zibbie to her friends, Ms. Talbot was an avid reader and environmentalist. She most recently worked to find housing for summer workers under the J-1 visa program on Cape Cod.

Previously, she helped care for her four grandchildren in Reading and worked as a real estate broker in Oak Bluffs.

Throughout her life, but particularly during her time in White Plains between 1969 and 1985, Ms. Talbot volunteered for Democratic political candidates and a variety of environmental and civic organizations. She worked at various times as a realtor, paralegal, teacher, administrator and volunteer keeper of the East Chop Lighthouse in Oak Bluffs.

She is survived by daughter Katharine Fitzgerald of Concord and husband Paul, son David Talbot of Reading and wife Julie; grandchildren William Fitzgerald and Nathaniel, Alexander and Cordelia Talbot; sister Anne Speakman of Cambridge and Oak Bluffs and wife Sally Kelly; nephew Thomas Speakman and niece Margaret Kelly; and cousins Rob Albright of Stow and Francie Hersey of Sheffield, Vt., and their spouses, children and grandchildren.

Because tobacco contributed to Ms. Talbot’s death, her family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 1400 I Street NW, Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20005. Donations can also be made to the Orleans Pond Coalition, Box 2485, Orleans, MA. 02653.