US hedge fund founder Thomas Gilbert shot dead in New York

A US hedge fund founder was found shot to death in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday, and New York police are seeking his son for questioning, authorities said.

Thomas Gilbert, 70, founder of the Wainscott Capital Partners Fund, was shot once in the head around 3:30 p.m. EST inside his apartment bedroom, police said in a statement.

"Right now, we're looking to speak to his son, who was the last person to see him alive," police spokesman Lieutenant John Grimpel said. He did not identify the son.

The death has not been ruled a homicide, but will await a coroner's findings. A .40-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene, he said.

Gilbert, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School, founded Wainscott in 2011 and was the fund's chief investment officer, according to a profile on the fund's website.

Gilbert was a co-founder of Syzygy Therapeutics, a private equity biotech asset acquisition fund, and left it in 2011 to form Wainscott, the profile said.