Hersh Wolch

On July 17, 2017, Hersh was pronounced dead at the Foothills hospital after collapsing at his Calgary home early in the morning due to a heart attack.

In 2001, Wolch was one of the major shareholders to loan Maple Leaf Distillers 3.1 million to help it expand and meet an agreement with Pernod Ricard, the third-largest wine distributor in the world. Wolch is a current director of Salibury House Restaurants, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Wolch gained high-profile attention in 1997 when his client, Milgaard, was cleared by DNA evidence after serving 23 years in prison for the murder of Gail Miller, a Saskatoon nursing aide found murdered in 1969.

In 1982 two guards at Stony Mountain Penitentiary in Manitoba were taken hostage by multiple prisoners, including three convicted killers. The incident lasted approximately 39 hours. Wolch successfully negotiated the safe release of the hostages from inside the prison.

In January 1978, he was called in as a hostage negotiator, when a British Columbian gunman, Bruce Archer, took three hostages in a doctor's office after killing an RCMP officer in a motel shoot-out where he shot three police officers in a small rural village of around 300 inhabitants. Archer and his accomplice both surrendered.

Mr. Wolch married Linda Nodder in 1969 and they eventually had five children together: Amanda, Eden, Glynnis, Shana and Gavin. The couple divorced in 1996. He was married to Sheilah Martin, a lawyer, professor, judge, and nominee for the Supreme Court of Canada from 2000 until his death in 2017.

Hersh Wolch (April 18, 1940 – July 17, 2017) was a prominent Canadian lawyer, born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.