Cooper Health System CEO and wife killed

Cooper Health System President and CEO John P. Sheridan Jr. and his wife died without an immediately announced cause Sunday morning.

The health system issued a news release on the deaths Sunday morning of Sheridan Jr. and his wife, Joyce, but did not give a cause. A spokeswoman did not respond to questions.

Campaign finance contribution records list Sheridan Jr.'s address on Meadow Run Drive in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township.

Two people died overnight in a house fire on Meadow Run Drive, according to a report from NJ.com.

A spokesman for the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office told the website that an investigation is ongoing but did not identify the victims.

"It is hard to overstate how great a loss John's death is to his family, friends, co-workers and Cooper," Cooper Health System Board of Trustees Chairman George E. Norcross III said in a statement. "He was a friend, a mentor and a role model."

Sheridan Jr. became Senior Executive Vice President of Cooper in July 2005 and was appointed President and CEO of the health care system in February 2008.

He is credited with transforming the organization during his tenure, overseeing the construction and expansion of the Cooper University Hospital Roberts Pavilion, as well as the creation of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, New Jersey's first new medical school in three decades.

"Working closely with John, I was able to see first-hand his quiet strength, his decisiveness and his passionate belief that Cooper not only could make a difference in people's lives, it had an obligation to do so," Cooper University Health Care President and CEO Adrienne Kirby said in a statement. "His leadership made Cooper a better place."

Before joining Cooper, Sheridan Jr. was a senior partner and co-chairman of Trenton law firm Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti, where he served for a number of years as general counsel to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

He served as the state's Commissioner of Transportation under Gov. Thomas H. Kean and was Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Transit Corporation from 1982 to 1985.

Earlier in his career, Sheridan Jr. acted as assistant counsel to New Jersey Gov. William T. Cahill and counsel to the New Jersey Senate Minority. He was also a Deputy Attorney General for the state of New Jersey, Cooper officials said in the release.

Check back for more details throughout the afternoon.