EX-STUDIO 54 club owner, Mark Fleischman died by assisted suicide in Switzerland on July 13, 2022.
Fleischman had a lengthy career as the co-owner of a New York-based club that attracted celebrities and locals alike.
Fleischman co-owned the New York nightclub Studio 54 which opened in 1977, drawing famous guests to its location including Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, and Elizabeth Taylor.
He took over the establishment in 1980 when the two original owners were arrested for tax fraud.
Fitzgerald told the outlet that while he and Fleischman co-owned the establishment, they “worked really well together for a long time and had a lot of fun together”.
He continued: “[Fleishman] would be able to have fun but be really smart at the same time and be really intelligent about figuring things out. He taught me a lot. He was a great mentor for me.”
Mark Fleischman became ill in 2016 but doctors were unable to diagnose his condition, which over time became debilitating, leaving him unable to do many things for himself.
His former business partner Daniel Fitzgerald told BBC News: “I guess he was in more pain than we knew.”
Fitzgerald had organized a living wake for Fleischman and begged him not to go.
“I thought maybe we could convince him not to [go],” he said. “We had a really nice party for him and a lot of his friends came, and everyone thought, ‘he’s going to postpone it a month and we’ll see what we can do.’ But he was set on doing it.”
