Beloved Chicago Radio Host Dies by Assisted Suicide at Swiss Clinic After Her Body Began 'Failing' Following Neurological Disorder Diagnosis

Beloved former Chicago radio host Judy Markey has died by assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic after years of watching her body "in decline," RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Markey, 82, was half of the popular Kathy and Judy Show alongside co-host Kathy O'Malley, which aired on WGN Radio 720 AM for 24 years, from 1989 to 2017, with a four-year break starting in 2009.

Markey's obituary made it clear that she ended her life by her own choosing on September 11, after battling a degenerative neurological disorder.

"After some years with her body in decline, she made the choice she always supported – going out on her terms with a voluntary assisted death in Switzerland," it read.

"This choice was made having lived a full and rich lifetime in which she got 'more from it than she ever imagined,'" it continued with Markey's own words.

In place of flowers, the veteran broadcaster's loved ones asked that donations be made in her name to Paws Chicago, a cageless, no-kill pet adoption center, with the amount raised already past $9,125.

Markey left behind her husband, Tom Collinger, and two children, daughter Erin and son Adam. Collinger traveled with his wife to the clinic, where he told the Chicago Sun-Times she had a few bites of a Snickers bar as her last meal.

The professor emeritus at Northwestern University said Markey then set up a joke as one of her last acts, claiming she had a headache.

"I said, ‘Do you want some Advil?' And she said, 'I kind of want something a little stronger,'" he recalled, as everyone in the room got a hearty laugh.

"She had a life that exceeded all her expectations. In the end, she was comforting others," Collinger shared.

Her husband said Markey hoped her decision would help ignite a wider debate over a person's right to choose when and how they die.

In a twist of timing, Illinois' End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act went into effect one day after Markey's death, after being signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker in December 2025.

However, the law is narrowly limited to terminally ill patients who are given six months or less to live, with the grim prognosis required to be confirmed by two independent doctors.

Markey's longtime co-host O'Malley revealed in an emotional Facebook post that the two had spoken candidly about her unwavering determination to end her life on her own terms after living with increasing amounts of pain.

"It was one of the nervous system’s many insidious disorders that attacked her, but what does the variety matter? While it slowly began aggravating her mind, it was more aggressive with her body, which became more challenged and painful every day," O'Malley told followers about her longtime friend and colleague.

"And then she decided: 'Enough. This isn’t getting better; it’s getting worse. I refuse to tolerate years of struggle and pain before I finally die in total misery, and I refuse to make the people I love deal with it, especially since the end will be the same.'"

O'Malley recalled their last lunch together before Markey flew to Switzerland.

"As we discussed on the air so many times, she chose to be in charge of The End, while she still had control of her mind. She picked the date and the place and proceeded living her life with resolve and joy. Last week, we had our last lunch at a restaurant she always wanted to try, and we spent most of that time in laughter," she shared, adding, "Thank you for letting me be part of your life."