Canada - Barry, 75, & Honey Sherman, 70, found dead, Toronto, 15 Dec 2017 #1

[matou]

At 66, Barry Sherman likes to boast that he’ll work another 40 years. But if he died suddenly—and there is a history of unexpected death in his family—he’d leave behind a huge fortune, as well as vast problems. Just in case, he’s thinking of strengthening management and considering his options—including the possibility of going public and giving away much of his personal wealth. He and Honey like to believe that Apotex will continue as an influential Canadian company for generations, whoever runs it.

https://torontolife.com/from-the-archives/barry-sherman-bitter-pill-from-the-archives/

 

[liz b.]

Were any of their children also involved in pharma ? Did the children reside in Toronto as well ? tia to anyone who might know.

 

[Peace777]

I don't believe he did this! JMO

Me neither as it's saying in the news now they BOTH died of strangulation (can the coroner tell if both were alive when they were strangled then maybe hanged?). I think it is murder but who wanted both of them dead is the big question. Also considering their ages I don't think this would be how 1 would kill themselves or their spouse. JMO

 

[matou]

An opposite view of Barry Sherman. One person says he works and only sleeps a few hours a day and this one says he needs over 10 hours of sleep. Hmmmmm

Like many prodigies, Barry was an awkward, introverted, insecure little boy. He suffered so severely from lethargy that his Grade 5 classmates called him “Grandpa.” To this day he fights fatigue, needs 10 hours of sleep and struggles to get out of bed in the morning.

https://torontolife.com/from-the-archives/barry-sherman-bitter-pill-from-the-archives/

 

[dotr]

Snippets from a long and detailed article, rbbm.
https://torontolife.com/from-the-archives/barry-sherman-bitter-pill-from-the-archives/

This article was first published in the July 2008 issue of Toronto Life.

Barry Sherman parks his 2005 Chrysler Sebring convertible in the spot closest to the main door of the Apotex headquarters in Weston. Although Sherman, the CEO and founder, is the country’s 10th richest man, with a personal wealth of about $3.7 billion, he’s notoriously thrifty. He’s owned only four cars in his life, driving them until they’re ready to junk

.

Sherman also spends a small fortune on litigation—a full 50 per cent of what he invests in research. Generic manufacturers like Apotex live or die by the speed with which they can plunge into the market*place with copycat versions. So they make it their business to shorten the duration that brand name companies hold on to drug monopolies, weighing potential profits against the risk of lawsuits. It’s not unusual for Apotex—probably the country’s biggest litigator—to be engaged in 100 court cases simultaneously.

The firm gained international notoriety in the ’90s, during a vicious battle with Dr. Nancy Olivieri, a clinical researcher at SickKids, who denounced as unsafe the Apotex-sponsored trials of a drug for a rare blood condition. Last year, Apotex endured another public relations nightmare when it was revealed that the company had reached a $40-million backroom deal to delay selling a version of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s blockbuster anticoagulant Plavix.

While Sherman has successfully taken on big pharma, he hasn’t been as lucky with his own relatives.

Sherman has also sued, recalling more than $8 million in loans he had made to his cousin Kerry Winter, the most aggressive of Lou’s sons. Winter has a history of drug addiction and has already spent years of his adult life entangled in this feud. Sherman, with a battalion of lawyers and bountiful resources, calls it extortion and refuses to settle.

Barry had refused my interview requests, but his wife, Honey, had agreed to speak to me. On the day I visited, their front door was opened by a hearty bleached-blond housekeeper wearing khaki shorts and Crocs. She took me to wait near the kitchen, where Barry Sherman stood in a blue terry cloth robe at the counter in his bare feet, reading the paper and eating breakfast. “What are you doing here?” he asked. Either Honey had not told him about the interview or he’d forgotten. He listened to my explanation, then went back to his paper. No small talk. Honey appeared, dressed not unlike her housekeeper in a white T-shirt, green pants and white Crocs, no jewellery. She’s short and solidly built, with heavy eyebrows, sable hair and the look of someone who plays tennis daily. It once was one of her sports, along with skiing, but now she plays golf when she can, her athletic life curtailed by severe arthritis.

She led me down a hall beside a glassed-in swimming pool.

She worries that the road for their children—three daughters and a son, ages 17 to 32—will be more difficult because of their wealth. “You have to work hard to instill in them a sense of reality.” Last year, her husband named their son, Jonathon, a Columbia University business and engineering graduate, the CEO of Steelback Breweries, acquired after the company racked up a $120‑million debt. Jonathon had tried working at Apotex but didn’t like it. She expects none of their children will take over the business, leaving the matter of succession dangling.

At 66, Barry Sherman likes to boast that he’ll work another 40 years. But if he died suddenly—and there is a history of unexpected death in his family—he’d leave behind a huge fortune, as well as vast problems. Just in case, he’s thinking of strengthening management and considering his options—including the possibility of going public and giving away much of his personal wealth.

According to Kerry, Stan Garden and Rockcliffe aren’t the only people on his side. He says several of Sherman’s business enemies want him to win. As he spoke to me, his face reddened and his voice rose. “If Barry had his way, I’d be eating cold french fries out of a Dumpster at KFC. Well, Barry, that’s just not going to happen.” He rapped his knuckles on the table and leaned in close. He vowed he’d be Sherman’s “nemesis,” saying that for him this was “a lifelong mission.” He expressed fear for his personal safety and, pointing a finger in my face, warned: “By the way, sweetie, you’re next.”

 

[Betty P]

This might sound weird, but how do people know how to hang themselves? Like, I don't know how to tie a noose just so... Is it easier in reality than I make it up to be in my head? For example, there was a young lady in I think Texas who pushed her husband or boyfriend out the window of their high rise and she went to prison and hung herself in her cell. I don't know how I'd figure out how to do it? I'm not stupid, but I am inept with tying different types of knots...idk just something I've been thinking about.

I recall when Mick Jagger's gf killed herself, police found she had done some internet searches on how to do this. L'Wren Scott used a similar method of hanging, IIRC. Sad to say there are some web sites out there that give suicidal people instructions on how to do it. I suppose they feel its a compassionate thing for people who are very ill and suffering, but not for people who are just depressed and especially not for someone planning murder-suicide.

But, yeah, the information is out there on the internet. Don't ask me for a link, I would never want to read that stuff. Assume LE is searching their computers, cell phones, etc for these kinds of searches.

 

[gdalton]

Me neither as it's saying in the news now they BOTH died of strangulation (can the coroner tell if both were alive when they were strangled then maybe hanged?). I think it is murder but who wanted both of them dead is the big question. Also considering their ages I don't think this would be how 1 would kill themselves or their spouse. JMO

If the wife had severe arthritis for years would she spend a lot of time in the pool or hot tub?
Could explain the location.

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[Snoop Sister]

I just had the same thought/question about the real estate agent. From the floor plans, the indoor pool is the farthest room from the center of the house or any exterior doors. If it is normal for the real estate agent to let themselves in, it would IMOO not be the first place I would think they would look, if not most likely the last.

I wonder if they A) were getting the house ready for a showing and going room to room to make sure everything was set up or B) saw some type of disturbance leading them to look for the home owners out of concern for their safety.

Just thoughts going through my head because it did seem odd

Real estate agent could have entered through the garage, which is on the same floor as the pool. When I had my place listed, the agent entered via a garage door.

 

[Snoop Sister]

That's pretty much my understanding at this time. Police have said that there's no sign of a break-in and they are not currently looking for a suspect. In their estimation, it must look like a murder-suicide, and there must be reasons for that conclusion. The family has a lot of money and is unwilling to consider the possibility of murder-suicide, so police have brought in the homicide team to look for anything that was missed that would indicate a double murder.

There is security camera coverage of the property, so I think that will be the best option for ruling out a double murder. If security cameras were turned off at some point, it should be evident when that happened and who did that because security systems are tied to computers which are tied to passwords. I suspect that even an erased portion can be retrieved with today's technology.

If they had security cameras, probably would have indoor security and even if the security was turned off....security history would show any door openings and any sensors being activated through the house(in what rooms exactly) and at what time.

 

[dotr]

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...ry-and-honey-sherman-to-be-held-thursday.html

Funeral for Barry and Honey Sherman to be held Thursday

A funeral for Apotex founder Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, will be held Thursday in Mississauga.

Benjamin’s Park Memorial Chapel will facilitate the service to be held at the International Centre at 11 a.m. The chapel expects many people in attendance.

Barry and Honey Sherman are shown in a photo from the United Jewish Appeal. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

 

[dyannaON]

They look like a lovely couple regardless of wealth. I hope for their children's sake they get the truth whatever it may be. Tragedies during the holidays cannot be easy.


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[Teche]

It helps keep the water temperature steady.

Very odd that and indoor pool would have a cover. What is the point?

 

[north_west]

"Suicide is forbidden under Jewish law and is seen as a grave sin, because it abrogates for human beings the right to determine their own life span. Suicide also appears to be in defiance of the notion that our lives and our bodies are a divine gift, instead implying that we are entitled to exercise complete control over our own bodies and our own deaths.

Martyrdom -- the taking of one's own life or allowing it to be taken rather than being forced to engage in "idol worship," for example -- is the notable exception in Jewish law.

Jewish law takes suicide so seriously that it technically prohibits any rites of mourning for someone who has committed suicide, yet the general tendency of Jewish legal development over the ages has been to all but define true suicide out of existence. That is, an assumption is made, unless there is incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, that the individual who took her or his own life was not of sound mind -- making space for full compassion for the deceased and for the family, and allowing the complete set of Jewish burial and mourning practices."

https://www.shiva.com/learning-center/sitting-shiva/who/contemporary-issues/

 

[Montrealaise]

Why would the very cousins sue the one guy - Barry Sherman - who took care of them all these years? I read somewhere Barry was getting pretty fed up with the lawsuits and started calling in loans he made to them, or home mortgages and this was really posing a threat to the cousins' lifestyles. The cousins felt they were owed a piece of the bigger pie - the billion dollar pie. And that's just 10% of what the public probably knows from legal proceedings. I was a former court transcriptionist and you'd be amazed at what family members will squabble over when money is involved. Families shattered. Grudges carried for years.

Why sue him? Two words come to mind: envy and greed. They looked at their extremely successful cousin with the fabulous wealth and decided they wanted a part of it even though they didn't actually do anything to deserve it.

 

[carole]

Very odd that and indoor pool would have a cover. What is the point?

In my opinion, one reason for the pool cover is that the house was for sale. A safety net in case anyone, especially children, might fall into the pool.

 

[Sconnie]

Just jumping in after looking at the floor plans. It looks to me that if it is a murder/suicide and he killed her on another floor he would have had to manuever the body down a spiral staircase, or a regular staircase that is further away from the pool. I just can't see that happening. There is a "lift" mentioned on the floor plan, so maybe there was an elevator that he used?

Thank you for all of you that are so knowledgeable and have such interesting perspectives. This is a fascinating case and I feel for their family and friends.

 

[matou]

On Monday, former Toronto police homicide detective Mark Mendelson said detectives will be looking to answer a number of questions, including who was in the Shermans' house at 50 Old Colony Road, and when the Shermans were last out and when they returned home.


"You have to get a timeline as to when they were last seen, who were the last people to speak to them, when was the date and time of that?" Mendelson told CBC Toronto. "All of these things have to be identified."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/shermans-remembered-1.4455238

 

[AlwaysShocked]

I surely don't blame the family for insisting on a full investigation. Especially with the weirdness of the double hanging. From reading several of the forensic articles, it seems an astute medical examiner can determine the difference between an actual death by hanging and a death made to look like a hanging. It apparently has to do with internal tissue damage patterns.

It sounds like someone in the police department spoke about murder/suicide to a member of the press far sooner than they should have. Especially when the family members had not yet been notified.

Obviously the police have a whole lot more info than we have. Such as what they were wearing, evidence of activity within the house, etc. I thought I read that the real estate agent came to set up for an open house. In that case, the agent would go through the house turning on lights in every room, inside closets, etc.

I am kind of leaning towards the idea that the cops know what they are looking at. This is, after all, what they do for a living. But I also think a very thorough investigation should be conducted. I would want to know if the father had any rope fibers on his hands? And if it were my parents I would want to have a second, independent autopsy on both of them.

 

[matou]

"But there was no question in anybody's mind who knew them was that they were madly in love with each other," Waks said. "They still walked hand-in-hand. They had everything in life to be looking forward to."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/shermans-remembered-1.4455238

 

[Satchie]

If they had security cameras, probably would have indoor security and even if the security was turned off....security history would show any door openings and any sensors being activated through the house(in what rooms exactly) and at what time.

I was thinking, the Sherman's would likely have used a security company, and on the day the bodies were discovered police would likely have asked the security company about whether the system was correctly armed, and any alarms indicating unauthorized entries or exits, and likely nothing jumped out to indicate an intruder.

But more detailed review of data would need to be done, who had passcodes, how it worked.