Cremation

Are we in the midst of a paradigm shift, from “Services selection” to “Memorialization selection”, by the consumer

By Funeral Director Daily / October 16, 2025 /

    As things seem to do in my life, circumstances came together this week to have me reflect on changes in the Death Care profession/industry.  First of all, here’s three items that came together to make me think about changes in our businesses.   I attended the funeral of a long-time member of my…

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Pure Cremation’s private equity owner putting the business up for sale

By Funeral Director Daily / October 13, 2025 /

  I learned through an article from Sky News and in this article from KillBait that Epiris, the private equity firm that acquired London area-based Direct Cremation provider Pure Cremation just over two years ago, is beginning a process to sell the company.   Pure Cremation, arguably the most financially successful start-up in Death Care…

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Can independent funeral home operators undercut “wannabe” national cremation providers on price?

By Funeral Director Daily / October 8, 2025 /

    The question posed in the headline is interesting.  What is happening in Great Britain may be a precursor of what could happen in North America about the billing amount to consumers for the growing trend of Direct Cremations.  A recent 2025 survey of 200 funeral directors and 6,000 adults showed that Direct Cremations…

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Green Burials. . . . . .The Resistance

By Funeral Director Daily / September 25, 2025 /

    Minnesota funeral director Scott Mueller is a proponent of “Green Burials”.  Mueller makes a comment in this recent article from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin titled “As interest in green burials grows, so does some opposition”.  Mueller’s comment is this, “As long as people have walked this earth, we’ve had green burials.  Every cemetery…

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Are we nearing the “Cremation Peak”?

By Funeral Director Daily / September 10, 2025 /

    There are some interesting survey results out that question if the United States will soon reach the “Peak Percentage” of cremation rates as the disposition of choice.   Last year at this time the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) was readying some of their results on the “Changing Funeral Preferences” survey.  I remember…

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Dilemma: The affluent consumer and traditional Death Care

By Funeral Director Daily / September 5, 2025 /

  On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers.  So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the Fox Business Stuart Varney morning show.   One of the short business news stories that came on was that they…

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Pension funds investment in Cremation is an interesting development

By Funeral Director Daily / August 13, 2025 /

    Pension funds and endowments have the responsibility of shepherding for safety, growth, and income their assets into a multitude of investments.  I’ve learned that most of those types of investors invest in bonds and private debt for income and stocks for short-term growth.  Some will invest up to 5% of the assets into…

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Foundation Partners Group announces new ownership

By Funeral Director Daily / August 5, 2025 /

  Orlando, Florida, based Foundation Partners Group (FPG) caught some by surprise when it announced in a news release on Monday,  “a transformational milestone in its growth journey, including new ownership, increased investment in its people and facilities, and a strategic reorganization to strengthen field operations and support care teams.”   The news release did…

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A case for “Tradition”

By Funeral Director Daily / July 3, 2025 /

    HBO’s recent documentary “The Mortician” probably gave the Death Care profession some bad publicity.  However, at least in one case as evidenced by this article in The Free Press titled “My husband wants to be cremated.  I’d ignore his dying wish“, it brought out a re-constituted call for the traditional visitation and funeral.…

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Memoria aims to be the “technology disrupter” of Deathcare

By Funeral Director Daily / June 30, 2025 /

      I don’t know what Death Care will look like ten years from now but I do know that change happens, and in some way, the logistics of it will be different than today.  This recent article from Forbes titled “Tech and Deathcare:  A new challenge to an old industry” ends with the…

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