Former Studio 54 owner Mark Fleischman has died by assisted suicide in Switzerland.
It comes after the 82-year-old had been suffering from an unknown degenerative illness since 2016, that had seen him recently confined to a wheelchair.
His wife Mimi Fleischman confirmed her husband’s death in a Facebook post on Wednesday (July 13). “I wanted to let you know that Mark passed bravely and peacefully,” she wrote.
Mr Fleischman revealed his plans to travel to the non-profit Dignitas clinic near Zurich with his wife to end his life, last month.
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“They want to be certain that I am making the decision for myself,” he told the New York Post at the time. “After reading my material, they asked me some questions to make sure I was serious. I had to provide a notarised affidavit, stating that I want to die. I had to go to a psychiatrist and he confirmed that I am of sound mind.”
“There is no shame in what I am doing,” he added. “It is proper and reasonable at my age. I have done everything and been everywhere and met everyone I want to meet.”
Fleischman purchased Studio 54 in New York in 1980 from the original owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, after they were convicted of evading more than $700,000 (£591,430) in taxes.
He reopened it in 1981 and ran it until 1986. “I was the ringleader for nearly four years and I became intoxicated with the scene,” he wrote in a 2017 memoir.
“Every night, celebrities and stunning women made their way through the crowd to sip champagne and share lines of cocaine with my golden straw or rolled up one-hundred-dollar bills.”
The legendary nightclub originally opened in 1977 and soon became the hottest venue in the US, with the likes of The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards and David Bowie passing through its doors.
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