A legend of 1980s New York City nightlife is choosing to end his life. Mark Fleischman, the 82-year-old former owner of Studio 54, told The New York Post that he’s choosing to die by assisted suicide. “I can’t walk, my speech is fucked up, and I can’t do anything for myself,” Fleischman said. “I am taking a gentle way out. It is the easiest way out for me.” He plans to fly to Zürich, Switzerland, on July 8 and take a lethal dose of barbiturates on July 13 provided by Swiss non-profit group Dignitas. His wife, Mimi Fleischman, told The Post that neurologists have been unable to diagnose her husband’s condition that confines him to a wheelchair. “It’s going to be horrible,” Mimi Fleischman said. “It is the end of a part of me as well. I have to honor what he wants. He wants to end his life and this is a dignified way to do it...As he prepares to go through the Pearly Gates, he can change his mind — but I don’t think he will.”
