Family of Canadian billionaires found dead funding own probe

TORONTO — The family of a Jewish billionaire philanthropist couple found dead in their home two weeks ago has hired a team of private forensic experts to investigate the deaths.

Sherman family representative Brian Greenspan said Thursday that private investigators will provide “a second lens” to the Toronto police investigation.

Seventy-five-year-old Barry Sherman was the founder of generic drugmaker Apotex. He and his 70-year-old wife Honey were found dead in their Toronto mansion on December 15.

Police call the deaths suspicious and say both died of “ligature neck compression,” but say there were no signs of forced entry.

The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star have cited police sources as saying authorities are leaning toward a murder-suicide theory. The Sherman family has strongly rejected that.

The Sherman family previously issued a release slamming police sources who spoke to the news media, and they urged police to conduct a thorough, intensive and objective criminal investigation into the deaths.

Barry Sherman founded Toronto-based Apotex Inc. in 1974 with two employees and turned the generic drugmaker into a company that now has 11,000 employees worldwide.

Canadian Business magazine recently estimated Barry Sherman’s worth at 4.77 billion Canadian dollars ($3.65 billion), making him the 15th richest person in the country.

The Shermans were among Canada’s most generous philanthropists, and their deaths shocked Canadian high society and Toronto’s Jewish community.

The couple made numerous multimillion-dollar donations to hospitals, schools and charities and had buildings named in their honor.

Honey Sherman sat on the boards of several civic groups, including Mount Sinai’s Women’s Auxiliary, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the International American Joint Distribution Committee.