Mark Fleischman dead at 82: Ex-Studio 54 owner dies by assisted suicide in Switzerland after illness left him bed-bound
FORMER Studio 54 owner Mark Fleischman died on Wednesday by assisted suicide in Switzerland after a mysterious illness left him bedridden. Fleischman’s planned death comes after he revealed to the New York Post last month that he intended to use the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas to end his life on July 13. Daniel Fitzgerald, […]
FORMER Studio 54 owner Mark Fleischman died on Wednesday by assisted suicide in Switzerland after a mysterious illness left him bedridden.
Fleischman’s planned death comes after he revealed to the New York Post last month that he intended to use the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas to end his life on July 13.
Daniel Fitzgerald, who co-owned Century Club in Los Angeles with Fleischman, told The Independent he ended his life at the clinic on Wednesday.
“I got a text from (his wife) Mimi this morning to say that he passed away bravely,” he told the outlet. “We didn’t realize how much pain he was in.”
In June, the former nightlife guru told the Post that he planned to commit legal suicide by taking a lethal dose of barbiturates.
“I can’t walk, my speech is f***ed up and I can’t do anything for myself,” Fleischman, who is confined to a wheelchair, told the outlet at the time.
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“My wife helps me get into bed and I can’t dress or put on my shoes. I am taking a gentle way out. It is the easiest way out for me.”
He revealed to the Post that neurologists have been unable to diagnose his illness, which began in 2016.
“I came to the decision slowly, Two years ago, I decided that it wasn’t worth living,” he told the outlet.
According to his wife, Fleischman is unable to “walk, has no balance, drops things and does not know where his body is in space”.
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“Doctors originally thought he had a form of Parkinson’s. But it is not that. Nobody knows what he has,” Mimi, his wife of 27 years, told the Post.
He paid around $15,000 for the procedure, which includes a lethal cocktail of barbiturates, cremation and the delivery of his ashes back to his wife in California.
“At 82, I decided, why keep it a secret? I lived on my own terms. I am not afraid of anything. Not even death. I look forward to it,” he told the Post.
“I don’t believe in the hereafter. But I want to know what happens when I die. I’m curious. If I do come back as something else, I think it will be a wolf or a polar bear, an animal that has a good life.”
Before his death, his business partner held a “living wake” for Fleischman and his wife on July 4th in hopes of convincing him not to go.
“Everyone really had a good time, and we thought that he was going to stick around for a while, his brain was all there,” Fitzgerald told The Independent.
“We thought that he was going to postpone it for a month, but then I guess he didn’t. He was very strong-minded.”
STUDIO 54’s HAYDAY
Fleischman purchased the popular Hells Kitchen nightclub in 1980 from owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, who went to prison for tax evasion.
He ran it for six years during its heyday as one of the world’s first super clubs, becoming friends with a clique of A-list celebrities.
During the height of its popularity, hopefuls would line up at its entrance to try to get past its famed velvet ropes.
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Hollywood gurus such as Keith Richards, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Al Pacino, Eddie Murphy and Madonna were all reportedly regulars at the iconic club.
In his 2017 memoir Inside Studio 54, Fleischman gave a blunt account of how the “drugs, sex, and celebrity shenanigans” that made the club famous almost killed him.