When lawyer Garry Hoy threw himself at a window to show it was unbreakable, but fell dead

When lawyer Garry Hoy threw himself at a window to show it was unbreakable, but fell dead

A playful prank cost a successful lawyer his life when he fell from a skyscraper window in an attempt to prove the unbreakability of the glass. On the fateful day of July 9, 1993, Garry Hoy, a respected attorney at the law firm Holden Day Wilson, was with a group of law students who were interning with them for the summer. Garry Hoy was giving them a tour of the 24th-floor office of the Toronto-Dominion Centre. At one point, he attempted to demonstrate the unbreakability of the building’s enormous glass panes by slamming himself into the window.

He had reportedly performed this trick several times. When he slammed himself into the window, the glass remained intact. However, when he slammed his body into the window a second time, the glass shattered and Garry Hoy fell to his death. This horrific incident sent shock waves through the financial district and probably traumatized the interns. This incident took place in a small conference room in the law firm’s office.

According to an old report in the Toronto Star, a structural engineer said, “I don’t know of any building code in the world that would allow a 160-pound man to run into a pane of glass and resist it.” Interestingly, the pane of glass survived the fall. Garry Hoy fell because the glass frame couldn’t withstand the pressure.

Peter Lauwers, managing partner of Holden Day Wilson, told the Ottawa Citizen that the firm had invited a crisis team from the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry to provide counselling to the firm’s employees and Garry Hoy’s colleagues. Peter Lauwers described Garry Hoy’s fatal fall as a “freak accident.” He said Garry Hoy was a brilliant lawyer and “a bright spot in the firm, a generous person who cared about others.”

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Garry Hoy was a graduate of the University of Toronto, specializing in corporate law. He was separated from his wife and had no children. His death was ruled a “death by misadventure.” He was 38 years old.

Holden Day Wilson reportedly ran into financial trouble shortly after Garry Hoy’s death and closed three years later. The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on the firm’s closure, writing, “The challenge of dealing with the traumatic event proved too much for the young firm, and within three years nearly 30 lawyers had left.” The firm closed in 1996, which at the time was the largest law firm closure in Canada.

Garry Hoy was a graduate of the University of Toronto, specializing in corporate law. He was separated from his wife and had no children. His death was ruled a “death by misadventure.” He was 38 years old.

Holden Day Wilson reportedly ran into financial trouble shortly after Garry Hoy’s death and closed three years later. The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on the firm’s closure, writing, “The challenge of dealing with the traumatic event proved too much for the young firm, and within three years nearly 30 lawyers had left.” The firm closed in 1996, which at the time was the largest law firm closure in Canada.

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    first print: Jul 19, 2024, 7:35 PM IST