Overview

• The Canadian private equity firm Onex announced Wright’s death at age 62, and no cause was disclosed.
• Wright spent nearly three decades at Onex, led the firm’s London office, and took a leave to serve in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2011 to 2013 before returning to the company.
• In 2013 he personally paid about $90,000 to then-senator Mike Duffy to cover contested expenses, a central episode in the Senate expenses controversy.
• The federal ethics commissioner later found Wright breached the ethics act; he was never criminally charged, while Duffy was acquitted after facing charges that included accepting a bribe.
• Onex leaders Bobby LeBlanc and Gerry Schwartz praised his character and leadership, and tributes also came from Stephen Harper, Pierre Poilievre, and former Conservative aides.