Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Police Misled Public On Mysterious Death Of Jewish Billionaire, Lawyer Says

A lawyer for the family of Canadian Jewish philanthropists Barry and Honey Sherman, who were found hanged in their Toronto home last month under yet-unsolved circumstances, is saying that police acted irresponsibly in publicly disclosing that there were no signs of forced entry into the house.

“It’s simply absurd,” attorney Brian Greenspan told The Globe and Mail.

“You have to know a lot more before that becomes meaningful and before that becomes public,” he added. “Because the public may draw from that an inference that is just wrong and misleading.”

Greenspan explained that releasing that information led the public to believe that the case was a murder-suicide, which friends and family believe is not true. He told the Toronto Sun that there were many possible alternative explanations for not having signs of forced entry, including someone having a key to their home, or one of the Shermans opening the door after hearing the doorbell.

Toronto Police declined to comment on Greenspan’s claims, other than to say the investigation is ongoing. The family has hired their own investigators to look into the case.

Barry Sherman was the founder of the pharmaceutical company Apotex, and was worth an estimated $3.5 billion at the time of his death. Although he made enemies of rival businessmen and some family members who felt cut out of his profits, he and his wife were widely respected for their philanthropy supporting Canadian and Jewish causes.

Read more about the Sherman case here.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.