He lived with his wife, French artist Laura Lachéroy, in the village of Thézy-Glimont in France until his death on November 11, 2010 of leukaemia.
The soil around the town comprises alluvial deposits in the valley of the Luce, the small river that separates Berteaucourt from Thennes, red diluvium around the school and out towards Thézy-Glimont, chalk towards the slopes and Eocene clay on the higher ground.