Two lifeless bodies were found Friday in a North York mansion owned by billionaire Barry Sherman – one of the wealthiest people in the country.
Emergency crews responded to the home where the founder of generic drug company Apotex Inc. lived with his wife Honey on upscale Old Colony Rd., near Bayview Ave. and Hwy. 401, around 11:45 a.m.
Two people, identified by friends as pharmaceutical giant Barry Sherman and his wife Honey, were found dead in the couple’s home on upscale Old Colony Rd. in North York on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017.
“We appear to have two deceased persons at that address,” Toronto Police spokesman Mark Pugash said Friday. “The Homicide Unit is monitoring the situation.”
The identities of the two deceased and how they died has not yet been released.
No further details were immediately available.
However, those who know the couple were expressing condolences on social media by Friday afternoon.
Dr. Eric Hoskins, Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, tweeted he is “beyond words right now.”
“My dear friends Barry and Honey have been found dead,” he tweeted. “Wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in health care.”
“A very, very sad day,” Hoskins added.
The couple’s sprawling home, which was put up for sale this month for $6.9 million, has been cordoned off with yellow crime scene tape and the investigation is ongoing.
Sherman is reportedly Canada’s 15th richest person with an estimated net worth of $4.77 billion.
“If it is them (Honey and Barry Sherman) the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre are absolutely in shock by their tragic deaths,” FWSC President and CEO Avi Benlolo said.
“They were among the community’s philanthropic giants and have been incredible supporters of the organization,” he added.
Honey actually gave the closing remarks at the FWSC’s State of the Union dinner just three weeks ago.
— With files from Sue-Ann Levy
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Barry Sherman, CEO and chairman of the board of Apotex inc. (file photo)
SHERMAN HAD THE Rx FOR MAKING MONEY
Barry Sherman’s glittering billion-dollar business career was bedevilled by a family dispute that spanned more than 50 years.
Sherman and his wife Honey were found dead Friday under mysterious circumstances in their sprawling mansion at 50 Old Colony Rd. near Bayview and the 401.
The homicide squad is investigating.
With an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion, Sherman’s business and personal dealings during his long career have raised eyebrows in boardrooms and over family dinners.
Born into wealth in 1942, he had a stellar academic career (entering the University of Toronto at 16 and later receiving his Doctoral degree from MIT).
His uncle Louis Lloyd Winter founded the pharmaceutical giant, Empire Laboratories, which would later become Apotex Inc. — Canada’s largest generic pharmaceutical company.
But when his uncle and aunt died in 1965, leaving their four children orphaned, the aspiring impresario was given the opportunity to buy the company from the executor.
Fifty years later that deal still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of Louis’s children, who feel they were cheated out of their inheritance. A judge tossed their lawsuit in September but they are appealing.
The Winter children claimed Sherman never gave them the royalties and opportunities they deserved. In court, they claimed he had failed in his “fiduciary duties.”
He sold Empire in 1972 and started Apotex in 1973, which would make him a billionaire.
More recently, Sherman orchestrated a boardroom coup over beer baron, wannabe movie star and late night talk show host, Frank D’Angelo. The ubiquitous D’Angelo was allegedly pushed upstairs at the brewery he founded by his financier friend, Barry Sherman.
Not surprisingly, Sherman’s 24-year-old son Jonathan took over.
In 2015, the Jewish Defence League picketed outside Sherman’s North York mansion because he was holding a fundraiser for Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.
In September of this year, Sherman asked the Federal Court to shut down an investigation into fundraising activities he helped organize for the Liberals.
The probe by Karen Shepherd, the federal Commissioner of Lobbying, was launched following complaints about two events. One was a $1,500-a-head private dinner with Trudeau that Sherman hosted on Aug. 26, 2015. The other was a Nov. 7, 2016, fundraiser featuring Finance Minister Bill Morneau for which Sherman was selling tickets for $500 a piece.
It’s estimated he donated more than $50 million to the United Jewish Appeal and millions more to other charities.
Sherman and his wife leave behind four children.
— Brad Hunter