Canadian Billionaire, Wife, Found Dead In "Suspicious" Suicide

The billionaire founder of Canadian generic drug Apotex Inc, Barry Sherman, and his wife Honey, were found dead in their Toronto home on Friday under what police described as "suspicious" circumstances.

Honey and Barry Sherman

Police said they were investigating the mysterious deaths after responding to a midday medical call at the Sherman’s home in an affluent section of northeast Toronto. Two bodies covered in blankets were removed from the home and loaded into an unmarked van on Friday evening.

“The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way,” said Constable David Hopkinson. Homicide detectives later told reporters gathered outside the home that there were no signs of forced entry, and no suspects were being sought as of this moment.

Const. David Hopkinson if Toronto Police said they are calling deaths of Honey and Barry Sherman suspicious pic.twitter.com/MJ577PeIdq

— Joe Warmington (@joe_warmington) December 15, 2017

The Shermans recently listed their home for sale for nearly C$7 million ($5.4 million). A real estate agent discovered the bodies in the basement while preparing for an open house, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported, citing a relative.

Their neighbors, who according to Reuters include business associates and some of Canada’s most powerful politicians said they were saddened by the deaths.

Deeply shocked to learn of the deaths of Honey and Barry Sherman, such remarkable people. Grappling with this terrible news.

— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) December 15, 2017

“Our condolences to their family & friends, and to everyone touched by their vision & spirit,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter.

Sophie and I are saddened by news of the sudden passing of Barry and Honey Sherman. Our condolences to their family & friends, and to everyone touched by their vision & spirit.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 16, 2017

Linda Frum, a member of the Canadian Senate, said she was "gutted by the loss" of the couple, two weeks after presenting a Senate medal "to one of the kindest and most beloved members of Canada"s Jewish community."

Ontario"s health minister, Eric Hoskins, described the couple in a tweet as "wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in healthcare."

I am beyond words right now. My dear friends Barry and Honey Sherman have been found dead. Wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in health care. A very, very sad day. Barry, Honey, rest in peace.

— Dr. Eric Hoskins (@DrEricHoskins) December 15, 2017

Toronto Mayor John Tory said in statement he was “shocked and heartbroken” to learn of the deaths, noting that the couple had made extensive contributions to the city.

“Toronto Police are investigating, and I hope that investigation will be able to provide answers for all of us who are mourning this tremendous loss,” Tory said.

Sherman, 75, founded privately-held Apotex in 1974, growing it into the world"s 7th largest drugmaker and the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical firm, with annual sales of more than C$2 billion and over 11,000 employees, by introducing large numbers of low-cost generic drugs that took market share from branded pharmaceuticals. He stepped down as chief executive in 2012 but remained executive chairman.

"All of us at Apotex are deeply shocked and saddened by this news and our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time," the company said in a statement.

Barry Sherman was ranked 363 on Forbes richest people in the world list; the publication put his net worth at $3.7 billion. He ranked just above eBay billionaire Jeffrey Skoll, and was believed to be the 5th richest person in Canada. The couple was known for their philanthropy, giving tens of millions of dollars to hospitals, universities and Jewish organizations, CBC reported. “They were extremely successful in business, but also very, very giving people,” former Ontario Premier Bob Rae told CBC. “It’s going to be a very, very big loss.”

While there is no additional information on whether the suicide was foul play , in February the Globe and Mail reported that Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd was investigating a complaint about a 2015 political fundraiser that Trudeau had attended.

Fired Coder Speaks Out On Google's "Potentially Illegal Practices", "Recorded Meetings" And "Science Denial"

For those who have managed to avoid this storyline, James Damore, now a former Google employee, caused outrage when he circulated a manifesto on Friday, complaining about Google’s “ideological echo chamber,” alleging women have lower tolerance for stress and that conservatives are more conscientious. By Monday, the chess master, who studied at Harvard, Princeton and MIT and worked at Google"s Mountain View HQ, was fired after the search giant’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said portions of Damore’s 10-page memo “violate our code of conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes” despite saying in the same memo that Google employees shouldn"t be afraid of speaking their minds.

Now, for the first time, the former Googler sat down for a YouTube interview with University of Toronto professor of psychology, Jordan Peterson, to discuss the circumstances leading up to the release of his controversial memo and the fallout that has resulted since. 

In this first exchange, Damore explains that he decided to write his now-infamous memo after attending a "secretive" Google "diversity summit" in which he says presenters talked about "potentially illegal practices" intended to "try to increase diversity...basically treating people differently based on what their race or gender are."

Peterson:  "Why did you do this?"

Damore:  "About a month and a half ago, I went to one of our diversity summits, all of it unrecorded and super-secret and they told me a lot of things that I thought just were not right."

Peterson:  "Ok, what do you mean "unrecorded and super-secret?""

Damore:  "Most meetings at Google are recorded.  Anyone at Google can watch it.  We"re trying to be really open about everything...except for this.  They don"t want any paper trail for any of these things." 

"They were telling us about a lot of these potentially illegal practices that they"ve been doing to try to increase diversity.  Basically treating people differently based on what their race or gender are." 

Peterson:  "Ok, why?"

Damore:  "Because I think it"s illegal.  As some of the internal polls showed, there were a large percentage of people who agreed with me on the document.  So, if everyone got to see this stuff, then they would really bring up some criticism." 

Damore also talks about how he originally published his memo over a month ago but upper-management largely ignored it until it started to garner media attention.  Then, once it went viral, upper management organized a coordinated attack and misrepresented facts in order to silence him.

Damore: "I actually published this document about a month ago; it"s only after it had gone viral and leaked to the news, that Google started caring." 

"There was a lot of upper management that started to call it out and started saying how harmful it is.  This sort of viewpoint is not allowed at Google."

Peterson:  "Yeah, what sort of viewpoint exactly?  The idea that there are differences between men and women that might actually play a role in the corporate world?  That"s an opinion that"s not acceptable?"

Damore:  "Yeah, it seems so.  And there"s a lot of misrepresentation by upper-management just to silence me, I think." 

On why he was fired:

Peterson:  "What was there rationale for firing you exactly?  What was the excuse that was given?"

Damore:  "So, the official excuse was that I was perpetuating gender stereotypes." 

And finally, an interesting tidbit in which Damore once again points out that Google"s progressives are all too eager to put on their science hats when discussing climate change but are less eager to entertain scientific facts when they"re deemed "inconvenient."

Damore:  "I"m not sure how they can expect to silence so many engineers and intelligent people and just deny science like this"