NJ hospital CEO's wife was stabbed to death, police say

SKILLMAN, N.J. - The wife of a New Jersey hospital executive who was found dead with her husband in their burning New Jersey home last year died from a stab wound to her chest that punctured her aorta, an official said Wednesday.

A cause and manner of death have not been determined for Joyce Sheridan's husband, John, the CEO of Cooper University Health System. He and his wife were found unresponsive during a fire in the master bedroom of their Skillman home on Sept. 28, which was determined to have been intentionally set.

A who's who of New Jersey politics attended a Trenton memorial service for the couple in October.

Before becoming an executive at the Camden hospital and throwing himself into efforts to revive the struggling city, John Sheridan had other public policy roles, working for governors and as a lawyer. He was also the architect in the 1980s of Gov. Tom Kean's road-building fund.

One of the couple's four sons, Mark Sheridan, is a prominent Republican election law lawyer.

Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, confirmed that 69-year-old Joyce Sheridan died of a stab wound, which was first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Previously, officials had only said she was a homicide victim.

No arrests have been made or suspects named in the case.

Officials have not said when they might have more information on the death of 72-year-old John Sheridan.