Mark Harvey Fleischman (February 1, 1940 – July 13, 2022) was an American businessman. He is best known for being the onetime owner of

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...

Career

In 1981, Fleischman bought Studio 54 from its original owners

Steve Rubell Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 – July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54. Early life Rubell and his brother Donald grew up in a Jewish family in New York City. His father worked as a pos ...

and

Ian Schrager Ian Schrager (born July 19, 1946) is an American entrepreneur, hotelier and real estate developer, credited for co-creating the "boutique hotel" category of accommodation. Originally, he gained fame as co-owner and co-founder of Studio 54. Ear ...

. Later he opened and owned the

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

Tatou. He also opened the short-lived nightclub Gaugin at the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, a ...

when it was owned by future

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. In 2017, Fleischman published his memoir about the famed disco he once owned, titled ''Inside Studio 54''.

Death

In June 2022 he announced he had decided to die by

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

in Switzerland, after living since 2016 with an undiagnosed medical condition that affected his ability to speak and left him in a wheelchair. Fleischman ended his life on July 13, 2022, with the aid of the assisted dying non-profit Dignitas. He was 82 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischman, Mark 1940 births 2022 deaths 2022 suicides 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American memoirists Businesspeople from New York City Deaths by euthanasia Nightclub owners Studio 54 Suicides in Switzerland