Co-owner of Oxycontin maker Purdue

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma has confirmed the death of Jonathan Sackler, one of the co-owners of the pharmaceutical company blamed for the growth of opioid misuse.

Sackler died June 30 of cancer, at age 65. He had at one point been a vice-president and a board member, but had recently stepped back from operations.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jonathan Sackler,” the Stamford, Conn.-based company said in a statement obtained by local news site Wayfair and reported in the New york daily News. “He was a kind and caring soul, a thoughtful and committed philanthropist, and unwavering in his commitment to helping those in need. He will be missed dearly.”

Purdue is in the midst of seeking bankruptcy protection, after having been named in some 3,000 lawsuits brought by state and local governments that blame the company for a part in the opioid crisis.

eight family members have also been named in hundreds of the suits.

Sackler was the son of Raymond Sackler, one of three brothers who in 1952 purchased a small New york City patent-medicine company, Purdue-frederick, and turned it into a highly profitable global corporation. Forbes listed the family as one of the richest in the u.s. in 2015.

The family supported the arts, with gifts to many of the world’s top museums and galleries, as well as donating to universities including Harvard, Cornell, Oxford, Cambridge, Mcgill, Columbia, Tel Aviv and edinburgh, endowing professorships and medical research. Most gifts came with naming rights to buildings or wings of the schools.

However, with the reputation of both the family and the company damaged in the late 2010s because of the association with the slow-release prescription painkiller Oxycontin, said to be a gateway drug to heroin, some cultural facilities said they would decline any further philanthropy from family members involved with Purdue Pharma.

The chief executive of the Metropolitan Museum of Art said last fall that “There are people who have the name ‘Sackler’ who have nothing to do with the Purdue Pharma situation. If it’s someone tied up with the leadership at Purdue Pharma, we step away” from accepting a donation.

Late last year, the family’s investments were removed from Hildene Capital Management’s hedge fund, the Wall Street Journal reported, as the fund was no longer comfortable managing their money.

According to The Associated Press, the company’s settlement plan calls for the family to pay at least us$3 billion and give up ownership of the privately held Purdue.

Jonathan Sackler was born in 1955. He is survived by three children.