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Photo by Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press

While police must always be careful about their public statements about high-profile investigations on the record, Saunders isn’t the only one who has decided it’s best not to comment. For such a high-profile case, there have so far been remarkably few leaks, and even those outside law enforcement are choosing their words carefully, if they’re commenting at all.

“No one wants to talk it about it right now,” a high-ranking member of the city’s medical community told the Post.

“I am not able to speak,” said a lawyer who worked closely with Sherman on his patent fights.

There is kind of a fear that it's going to get picked up and somehow twisted into something that feels anti-Semitic in nature

Aviva Rubin, daughter of Murray Rubin, said there’s an anxiety that comes when the lives of two very wealthy Jewish people are scrutinized in the media. Despite the Shermans’ well-documented generosity, the worry is that mention of their multimillion-dollar home and legal battles will be used to fuel horrible old stereotypes, she said. “For a community that, in a lot of ways, often braces itself for hatred, there is kind of a fear that it’s going to get picked up and somehow twisted into something that feels anti-Semitic in nature,” Rubin said.

Barry Sherman, the culturally Jewish atheist, would likely have scoffed at the idea of looking down at the chaos his death created from the great beyond. But if he is, comments he made before his death suggest he might be preoccupied with all the work that’s going undone without him.

“Barry would often say that he expected to die at an early age as his father did before him,” said Kay, the Apotex vice-chairman. “As the years went by, Barry’s tune changed and we would tell each other that we would live to 120 … which we later amended to 150. In his words, there was too much to be done.”

“Barry would say, ‘I have to live forever because the universe cannot get along without me.”

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