The Canadian billionaire couple whose deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide after their bodies were found hanging from poolside railings were dealing with financial woes.
The bodies of Barry, 75, and Honey Sherman, 70, were discovered last week by their realtor after they had recently put their home on the market for $5.4million. The New York Post reports the couple was entangled in dozens of lawsuits, a government investigation and mounting financial pressures.
The Shermans have donated millions in past years to hospitals and schools only donated $66,000 in 2016 according to their tax filings. In 2015 The Sherman Family Foundation didn’t donate anything.
Barry, 75, and Honey, 70, (pictured) were found dead last week, half-seated and hanging, slumped at the edge of their indoor pool in their Toronto home
Barry and Honey Sherman were found hanging from the railings of their indoor pool (pictured)
The foundation wound up reporting just $1million in its coffers last year.
As founder and former CEO of Apotex Inc – one of Canada’s largest pharmaceuticals company producing more than 300 generic drugs in 115 countries – Sherman had an estimated fortune of more than $3billion and was last year ranked Canada’s fifth richest individual.
Additionally, work was stalled on the construction of another home that they recently received demolition and building permits on.
Barry had stepped down from Apotex five years ago, however he was still involved in fighting dozens of lawsuits.
DailyMail.com previously reported he was embroiled in a nasty battle with cousins who wanted a stake in his fortune.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was seen at Barry and Honey Sherman’s memorial service in Toronto on Thursday morning. Trudeau had offered public condolences and commended their ‘vision and spirit,’ after their death
Trudeau, seen leaving the memorial service on Thursday afternoon, wore a yarmulke out of respect for the Jewish family
Sherman’s four cousins, brothers Kerry Winter, Paul Barkin, and Jeffery Barkin and Julia Winter, the widow of a fourth brother, Dana all claimed he had promised a them a piece of his fortune in a lengthy, nasty legal war.
And piling onto the growing issues the Shermans were facing, days before they died their attorneys filed documents in Canadian federal court to try to squash a government investigation over a fundraising dinner they held at their home for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015 in which plates went for $1,100.
Police said they believed it was a murder-suicide but their four adult children reacted with horror and issued a statement denying that their parents would do such a thing.
Honey had been due to fly to their winter home in Miami on Tuesday, one of their daughters had just had a baby and another is soon to be married.
Then the autopsies gave cause of death as ‘ligature neck compression’ and Toronto Homicide Division took over the investigation.
On Thursday, dozens attended a memorial service held for the couple in Toronto. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among multiple Canadian Dignitaries present at the service. Trudeau himself had offered public condolences and commended Barry and Honey’s ‘vision and spirit’ in the wake of their deaths.
The Shermans’ son Jonathon Sherman wept as he delivered a eulogy in memory of his parents. He put on his yarmulke on after he was done speaking about his father who, he said, was an atheist.
On Wednesday officers went door-to-door canvassing neighbors in the wealthy Forest Hills section in which the Shermans lived, late into the evening.
Forensic officers continue to comb through the property and police have appealed to neighbors to hand over footage from their security cameras.
As the investigation into the couple’s suspicious deaths is stepped up, DailyMail.com can disclose the full details of a case which saw Sherman fight in court for years with his four cousins who claimed he came into their home like a cuckoo in the nest and took what was theirs.
Their fight stretched on through a series of family tragedies in the 1950s and 1960s, but is still going on.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself offered public condolences and commended their ‘vision and spirit.’
Barry and Honey’s son Jonathon Sherman (pictured alongside his sisters) wept as he spoke during the memorial service for his parents
He put on his yarmulke on after he was done speaking about his father who, he said, was an atheist
On Thursday, dozens attended a memorial service held for the couple in Toronto. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among multiple Canadian Dignitaries present at the service. Trudeau himself had offered public condolences and commended Barry and Honey’s ‘vision and spirit’ in the wake of their deaths.
The Shermans’ son Jonathon Sherman wept as he delivered a eulogy in memory of his parents. He put on his yarmulke on after he was done speaking about his father who, he said, was an atheist.
On Wednesday officers went door-to-door canvassing neighbors in the wealthy Forest Hills section in which the Shermans lived, late into the evening.
Forensic officers continue to comb through the property and police have appealed to neighbors to hand over footage from their security cameras in a sign that they are taking the possibility of murder extremely seriously.
DailyMail.com previously disclosed the full details of a case which saw Sherman fight in court for years with his four cousins who claimed he came into their home like a cuckoo in the nest and took what was theirs.
Their fight stretched on through a series of family tragedies in the 1950s and 1960s, but is still going on.
Mourners exited the memorial to get on three giant buses which escorted them behind the two hearses carrying both Barry Sherman and his wife Honey
Honey Sherman’s sister Mary Shechtman is consoled as she weeps for her sibling and brother in law. Shechtman gave a speech at the service
Dozens of people attended the memorial and wept as they honored the couple who was very popular in Toronto
Authorities believed their deaths could have been a murder-suicide, but the couple’s children insisted their parents would never do such a thing
Barry, the billionaire head of Apotex pharmaceutical company, and his wife Honey were known for their philanthropic efforts
Barry (pictured in his lab) grew to be a billionaire after he sold his uncle’s business and started his own. He allegedly cut his cousins out of their parents’ wealth
Mourners left flowers outside the couple’s multimillion dollar home as police forensics searched the house