Editing Edwin Howard Armstrong (section)

==Death==
The numerous protracted patent fights caused Armstrong's health to suffer and his behavior grew erratic. On one occasion he came to believe that someone had poisoned his food and insisted on having his stomach pumped. 
According to ''They Made America'' – authored by Sir Harold Evans and others – Armstrong was oblivious to the toll his struggle was taking on Marion. Marion spent months in a mental hospital after she threw herself into the [[East River]]. <ref name=TheyMadeAmerica>
{{cite book
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=fDyckjF2IWgC&q=marion&pg=PT280
| title       = They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators
| publisher   = [[Hachette Digital]]
| author      = Harold Evans, Gail Buckland, [[David Lefer]]
| year        = 2009
| isbn        = 9780316070348
| accessdate  = 2013-08-25
| quote       = The stress of living with a man obsessed put Marion into Psychiatric care. She tried to jump into the East River. She spent months in a mental hospital. Armstrong seemed oblivious to everything except the injustice being done to him.
}}
</ref>

The legal battles also brought Armstrong to the brink of financial ruin. On November 1, 1953, Armstrong told Marion that he had used up almost all his financial resources.<ref name=BioDictRadioArmstrong>
{{cite book 
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=mdQq-663faAC&q=%22Marion+McInnis%22+OR+%22Marion+Armstrong%22+radio+OR+FM+OR+RCA&pg=PA12
| title       = Biographical Dictionary of Radio
| publisher   = [[Routledge Publishing]]
| author      = Christopher H. Sterling
| year        = 2013
| page        = 12
| location    = 
| isbn        = 9781136993756
| accessdate  = 2013-08-25
| quote       = The years of litigation had taken their toll. His one-time friend David Sarnoff was now his bitter enemy. His fortune was depleted. In a fit of rage in November 1953, he took his anger out on Marion, his wife of 30 years, and she fled their apartment.
}}
</ref> In better times, funds for their retirement were put in her name, and he asked her to release a portion of those funds so he could continue litigation. She declined, and suggested he consider accepting a settlement. Enraged, Armstrong picked up a fireplace poker, striking her on the arm. Marion left the apartment to stay with her sister and never saw Armstrong again. <ref>{{Citation |last=Stashower |first=Daniel |title=The Boy Genius and the Mogul: the untold story of television |url=https://archive.org/details/boygeniusmogulun00stas |location=New York |publisher=Broadway Books |year=2002 |isbn=0767907590 |quote=His health began to suffer and his behavior grew erratic. On one occasion he came to believe that someone had poisoned his food and insisted on having his stomach pumped. On another, his wife fled the house as Armstrong lashed out with a fireplace poker. }}</ref><ref name="nyt19540202">{{cite news |title=Armstrong, FM Inventor, Dies In Leap From East Side Suite |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |date=February 2, 1954 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=BioDictRadioArmstrong/>

After just under three months of separation from Marion, sometime during the night of January 31{{snd}}February 1, 1954, Armstrong jumped to his death from a window in his 12-room apartment on the 13th floor of [[River House (New York City)|River House]] in [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]].<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcastingtele46unse#page/n664/mode/1up/ "Maj. Edwin Armstrong, Father of FM, Other Radio Inventions, Dead at 63"], ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', February 8, 1954, pages 67-68.</ref> The ''New York Times'' described the contents of his two-page suicide note to his wife: "he was heartbroken at being unable to see her once again, and expressing deep regret at having hurt her, the dearest thing in his life." The note concluded, "God keep you and Lord have mercy on my Soul."<ref name="nyt19540202" /><ref name="kaempffer">{{cite news |title=Stubborn genius |first=Waldemar |last=Kaempffert |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 9, 1956 |page=297 |quote = After he penned the last sentence, "God keep you and the Lord have mercy on my soul," he put on his overcoat, hat and gloves and stepped out of a window thirteen stories above the ground.|id={{ProQuest|113472829}} }}</ref> 

[[David Sarnoff]] disclaimed any responsibility, telling [[Carl Dreher]] directly that "I did not kill Armstrong."<ref>Dreher (1976), page 207.</ref> After his death, a friend of Armstrong estimated that 90 percent of his time was spent on litigation against RCA.<ref name="nyt19540202" /> U.S. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] (R-Wisconsin) reported that Armstrong had recently met with one of his investigators, and had been "mortally afraid" that secret radar discoveries by him and other scientists "were being fed to the Communists as fast as they could be developed".<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcastingtele46unse#page/n665/mode/1up/ "Major Armstrong Felt Reds Stole His Ideas—McCarthy"], ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', February 8, 1954, page 68.</ref>

Following her husband's suicide, Marion Armstrong took charge of pursuing his estate's legal cases. In late December 1954, it was announced that through [[arbitration in the United States|arbitration]] a settlement of "approximately $1,000,000" had been made with RCA. Dana Raymond of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York served as counsel in that litigation. Marion Armstrong was able to formally establish Armstrong as the inventor of FM following protracted court proceedings over five of his basic FM patents,<ref>{{cite news |title= Fm Suit Settlement Ends Six-Year Fight|magazine=Broadcasting-Telecasting|page=84 |url=https://archive.org/stream/broadcastingtele48unse#page/n195/mode/1up |date=January 10, 1955}}</ref> with a series of successful suits, which lasted until 1967, against other companies that were found guilty of infringement.<ref>Lewis (1991), page 358.</ref>