Messenger acquires Bass-Mollett Publishers

February 15, 2022/Finance, Products/

We expected 2022 to be a year of mergers and acquisitions in the funeral home business. However, we are also quickly learning that the marriages of companies will not be confined to those in the funeral home business, but in death care suppliers as well. Last month we reported on Wilbert’s acquisition of Memorial Monument and last week it was announced that The Messenger Company had acquired Bass-Mollett Publishers. You can see a press release reported in Casket and Funeral Supply Association Member News on the subject here.

According to the press release, “The acquisition brings together the funeral industry’s two leading stationery providers, whose combined product line, personalization options and technology solutions will create the broadest product platforms available for funeral homes.”

Bass-Mollett was a family-owned business that had served the needs of the funeral profession since 1951.

Kevin Tkacz, president at Messenger, was quoted in the press release, “Bass-Mollett is very well respected within the industry and our common focus on excellent customer service and product solutions make this a natural addition to the Messenger ‘family’.”

The following is commentary placed on the Bass-Mollett website pertaining to the transaction:

“Bass-Mollett Publishers has played a substantial role in the Bass, Mollett and Flowers families’ lives for the past 70+ years, as we know it has played a huge role for our customers and employees. We are proud to be part of the legacy we have built together.

Today we celebrate the coming together of two well established family companies, Bass-Mollett and the Messenger Company. Both companies put our funeral home clients at the forefront of what we do and the synergy of our offerings will significantly enhance our opportunities to serve customers with comprehensive solutions.

On behalf of the Bass, Mollett and Flowers families, thank you for trusting us with your business over the years and allowing us to be part of the substantial role you play in the communities you serve.”

– John & Duane Flowers and Tadd & Tad Sr. Flowers

Funeral Director Daily take: There is no doubt, that for differing and various reasons, we will see many of the long-standing death care supply purveyors

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

change hands as the profession, and our world, changes. Bass-Mollett, and Messenger, have been household names in my world for as long as I’ve been around. They serve their profession well. . . and do it with dignity and class. I can recall the Sales Reps that called on our funeral home and I always enjoyed the visits I had with them. . . . .and most of the time I learned something that helped me move my business forward. . . . I used to think of my Sales Reps as living, breathing, walking, continuing education instructors. They saw enough operations to know what worked and what didn’t. Listening to them saved me a lot of bad decisions.

And to the Bass, Mollett, and Flowers families. . . .I never knew any of you personally, but I do know that your dedication to the industry was like all of us on the front lines of funeral service. . . . it was 24/7/365. If funeral directors needed that specific memorial book or that specific prayer card in a hurry. . . .you made sure it got there. Thank you.

Related — It’s been just over a year and I’ve realized I’ve never paid tribute to my friend, Mike Fleming, former owner/operator of the Keith M. Merrick Company, another one of those home-grown, family-owned funeral home supplier companies. Here’s a copy of Mike’s obituary from his death on February 1, 2021.

Mike and I met at a funeral industry golf event and looked forward to seeing each other at the event annually. It was the only time every year we saw each other, but it seemed as we visited that we had been together every day of the year by our discussions. Mike and I had a lot in common. . . we both cheered for the Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings. . . . and we both had a passion for the game of baseball and enjoyed coaching Little League. Mike’s only problem was that he was an Iowa Hawkeye fan . . . . and I was a Minnesota Gopher fan and we often talked about getting together for one of those rival games. . . but that never got done.

Mike and I also had the common bond that we did not seek the funeral industry. . .it sought us. You see, I had no intention of being a funeral director at the time my father died when I was 19. . . .I wanted to coach baseball. And Mike, when he was called into the family business because of the death of his father, he was already a successful AAA baseball umpire. . . only one step away from the major leagues. Giving up his baseball career to help his family, President Abraham Lincoln might have said of Mike as he said of President Zachary Taylor and his seemingly situation-led career. . . “he was destined to tread that hard path of duty.”

When my children’s dog died, Mike was one of the first I called because his company was one of the first to do canvas prints for memorial services. Mike not only got me the canvas prints in a hurry, but I don’t think he ever charged me. Those prints not only hang in my boys’ homes, but in ours as well. . . .as a remembrance to our dog. . . . .but also as a remembrance to the dedication of so many, like Mike Fleming, who truly “serve” our profession.

More news from the world of Death Care: