Hedge fund honcho shot dead ‘by own son’ during argument

THE elderly founder of a Manhattan hedge fund was shot dead by his 30-year-old son Sunday inside the family’s swanky apartment, sources claim.

THE elderly founder of a Manhattan hedge fund was shot dead by his 30-year-old son Sunday inside the family’s swank East Side apartment, law-enforcement sources claim.

Thomas Gilbert, 70, the Harvard-educated founder and chief investment officer of Wainscott Capital Partners, was shot in the head by his son during an argument in the dad’s bedroom around 3:30pm, sources allege.

The son dropped his gun and fled on foot from the eighth-floor apartment at 20 Beekman Place near the United Nations, sources claim, sparking a police manhunt.

Christopher Kelly, a doctor who lives directly below Gilbert’s apartment, said he heard the gunshot but didn’t know what it was.

NEW YORK - FOR NEWS: Confirmed shooting at 20 Beekman Place, Manhattan, NY, Sunday, January 4, 2015. Apartment is on the 8th floor. Preliminary reports are that a man shot his father, victim was about 70-yrs-old. PICTURED: Exterior of 20 Beekman Place. (Angel Chevrestt, 646.314.3206)

“I heard a loud sound right above me,” he said “In New York, you hear loud noises. I just thought somebody dropped something.”

Kelly said he learned from the doorman that the younger Gilbert entered the building right after his father and then came back out minutes later and didn’t respond to the doorman’s greeting.

“It’s horrible. To think of that happening just a few feet from my head … that’s a scary thought,” the doorman said.

Thomas Gilbert was shot in the head by his son, sources claim. (Picture: Angel Chevrestt)

Hector Torres, a 33-year-old neighbour who works in finance, added of Gilbert, “He was a pillar on Wall Street — somebody everyone looked up to.

“Very nice gentleman … They seem like a normal family,’’ Torres added. “Every time I saw him in the elevator, he would say hi, he would ask how I was.”

Gilbert was a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School with more than 40 years on Wall Street.

In 2011, he founded Wainscott, a global equity hedge fund that focuses primarily on biotech and healthcare investing, managing about $5 million in investor money as of August 2013.

“He was a pillar on Wall Street — somebody everyone looked up to.” (Picture: Angel Chevrestt)

Before that, he co-founded a company called Syzygy Therapeutics, a private equity biotech asset acquisition fund focusing mainly on identifying and investing in late-stage drug candidates.

In 2000, Gilbert started Knowledge Delivery Systems, an e-learning company that tailors to the needs of school districts in different states.

He has also run deal departments for major Wall Street firms, including Loeb Partners where he was a Managing Director, Venture Capital.

Clay LeConey, a director of sales and marketing at Wainscott, declined to comment when reached by cellphone.

Additional reporting by, Sophia Rosenbaum, Chris Perez and Kevin Dugan

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was republished with permission.

Originally published as Hedge fund honcho shot dead ‘by own son’ during argument