Manitoban killed in Toronto remembered as compassionate, successful businessman

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This article was published 12/09/2023 (734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba businessman who was slain while visiting Toronto on a team-building trip is being remembered as a hard-working and compassionate person who built an “incredible” company.

Brett Sheffield, 38, the founder of Pilot Mound-based NextGen Drainage Solutions, died Aug. 30 — two days after he was assaulted in the city’s entertainment district.

“He worked his ass off and built an incredible company, but never lost sight of the people around him. I think the people who knew him were very fortunate to know him, and those who didn’t, they really missed out,” said Justin LeBlanc, a friend and colleague who was with Sheffield at the time of the attack. “The guy was just the life of the party.”

LeBlanc and Sheffield travelled to Toronto with three colleagues to attend a series of business meetings and do some team bonding, he said, adding he could not comment on the assault.

Police responded to the incident at 11:25 p.m. on Aug. 28 near Portland Street and King Street West, where they found Sheffield with life-threatening injuries, the Toronto Police Service said in a release.

“Life-saving measures were commenced on scene,” but the victim later died in hospital, police said.

United Kingdom resident Craig Gibson, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder in Sheffield’s death. British-based newspapers, including the Telegraph, have identified Gibson as a soldier in the British Army.

Army officials did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Toronto police also declined to comment.

Sheffield’s life was taken in random act of violence, his company wrote in a statement posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Friday.

“His absence is felt deeply across the community, our company, and his vast network of friends and colleagues,” the statement said.

“Brett’s passion for helping every person feel valued and cared for, will continue to motivate us. We are finding comfort in our shared commitment to ensuring Brett’s legacy thrives. We appreciate your concern and patience as we support Brett’s family.”

LeBlanc, who knew the victim for roughly five years, described him as a “farmer from birth” with an incredible ability to connect with people.

The pair met at Joey, a restaurant on Kenaston Boulevard, where LeBlanc was working at the time. Sheffield bought the bar a round of drinks “just because he was in a good mood,” LeBlanc said.

“We just started talking and the next thing I knew I was hanging out with him two weeks later,” he said. “Multiple times we’d go out for drinks and he’d see someone sitting alone at the bar. The next thing you know, he is talking to them and paying for their meal without them asking. He really was the definition of lifting up someone’s spirits.”

Canadian Business named Sheffield’s company one of the 500 fastest growing companies in 2019. Seven years earlier, while studying agriculture at the University of Manitoba, he was named the student entrepreneur champion for central Canada by Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship.

“I love both sides of the business, but I’m probably more of a businessman first than farmer,” Sheffield told the Free Press at the time.

“I like to focus on the economics of the farm. It’s a high-risk, high-input business that’s really changing the way we farm.”

He spoke again with the Free Press earlier this year, after he and several partners purchased a mansion and 104 acres near Pelican Lake with a plan to transform the space into a destination for weddings, camping and corporate wellness retreats.

“We want to make (this) like a retreat — a home away from home, or a resort wedding, but within Manitoba,” Sheffield said of the site, located roughly 100 kilometres south of Brandon and 30 kilometres southeast of Ninette.

LeBlanc, who was also involved in the deal, said the development project was later placed on hold.

The Free Press has reached out to Ontario justice officials for more information.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca