Former owner of Studio 54 club Mark Fleischman dies by assisted suicide in Switzerland

Mark Fleischman, former owner of Studio 54 has passed away by assisted suicide at Switzerland's Dignitas Clinic according to his former business partner.

Fleischmann owned the iconic New York club from 1980 - after the original owners were jailed for tax evasion- to 1986.

Back in 2016, Fleischmann had been experiencing complications with an undiagnosed neurological disease that left him confined to a wheelchair.

“I can't walk, my speech is fucked up and I can’t do anything for myself," he told the New York Post whilst announcing his plans to go ahead with assisted suicide. "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.”

“It is worse than not being able to walk. Mark doesn’t have balance. He drops things and does not know where his body is in space,” his wife Mimi Fleischman told The Post. “Doctors originally thought he had a form of Parkinson’s. But it is not that. Nobody knows what he has.”

His decision of assisted suicide was said by himself as not rash as he said “I came to the decision slowly,” adding that “two years ago, I decided that it wasn’t worth living. I took a lot of Xanax and ended up in the hospital.”

In a Facebook post, Ms Fleischman said her husband of 27 years had “passed to his next adventure this morning”.

“He was very brave and the nurses said he had a unusually peaceful transition. I am happy he is free but will desperately miss my best friend, constant companion, adviser, supporter and mainly love,” she wrote, next to a photo from their wedding day.

“I am so grateful for our time together.”

Previous co-owner of the Century Club in Los Angeles with Fleischman, Daniel Fitzgerald told BBC News: "I guess he was in more pain than we knew."

Studio 54 was renowned for being the hottest club in New York where the biggest names such as David Bowie and Madonna would party.

In 2017 Fleischman published his memoir Inside Studio 54, that spoke on how the “drugs, sex, and celebrity shenanigans” from the club almost killed him.

If you are in need of help or struggling with suicidal thoughts you can reach out to the National Suicide Hotline in the US or the Suicide Prevention Hotline in the UK.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter