This article from Fast Company introduces us to a new start-up in the burial and memorialization space, Transcend. Transcend, the brainchild of founder and CEO Matthew Kochmann, plans to be somewhat like Better Place Forests in that they will be bringing forests and trees into the realm of memorialization. Unlike Better Place Forests, where a…
Earlier this week according to this press release the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended that shareholders of StoneMor vote “FOR” the pending transaction with a subsidiary of Axar Capital Management LP. That vote, which would take StoneMor to a private company status, is scheduled for a special stockholders meeting on November 1, 2022. Among other…
Just yesterday we learned that Park Lawn Corporation announced the acquisition of the assets of Muehlebach Funeral Care, Skradski-Pierce Funeral Home, and Assurance Cremation Society. All are located in Kansas City, Missouri. The acquisition of the three firms will add approximately 627 calls and $616,000 in adjusted EBITDA annually to Park Lawn Corporation’s financial…
I’m penning this article on Wednesday, one day before it is published while I have the memories of the National Funeral Directors Association International Expo fresh in my memory. I spent Saturday through Tuesday afternoon at the convention in Baltimore, Maryland, leaving Tuesday evening and arriving home late on that same evening. In today’s edition…
There is no doubt that the establishment of the company Pure Cremation (company website here) and its business of what they call “no-fuss” direct cremation is making an impact on the death care business in Great Britain. Launched in 2015 as a low-cost provider of cremation services, the company is changing how some death care…
BUSINESS
“It is the Night of our Dear Savior’s Birth”
O, Holy night! The stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth O night divine, O night when Christ was born O night, O Holy night, O night…
This Christmas: “Count Your Blessings”
We all worry — probably too much. We worry about finances, we worry about weather, we worry about our children. Trust me, I think everybody worries a lot — like I said, probably…
Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations
Everstory Partners, who may be the nation’s 2nd largest Death Care provider by serving over 65,000 families per year, recently announced completed renovations at their Cedar Hill Funeral Home just outside Washington, DC. This…
FINANCE
The Question: “How does the economy look for 2026?” , The Answer: “Depends on who you ask?”
The overall economy and, more importantly, the way consumers and Death Care clientele feel about their individual situations has some effect on purchases of Death Care products and services– both Pre-Need and At-Need. It’s…
Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations
Everstory Partners, who may be the nation’s 2nd largest Death Care provider by serving over 65,000 families per year, recently announced completed renovations at their Cedar Hill Funeral Home just outside Washington, DC. This…
Pinnacle Funeral Service makes Green Bay acquisition
We learned earlier this week that Pinnacle Funeral Service, a funeral home owner and operator based in St. Petersburg, Florida, has acquired the Malcore Funeral Home & Crematory as well as Simply Cremation in…
REGULATIONS
New York audit of state funeral industry finds “Red flags”
A recent report (November 2025) from the State of New York Department of Health with the results of an audit “which covered April 2019 through November 2023, concluded that the state Department of…
Missing body causing problems between family and cemetery
According to details in this article from CBC Canada Royal Air Force glider pilot veteran Gordon Patrick was buried at the Green Acres Cemetery outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, following his death in 1973. …
Subject of iconic “Homecoming” photo died on Veterans Day
This is Thanksgiving weekend — a time to reflect and give thanks for the lives we are living. Those of you who are old enough will remember back in 1973 a time when our…
CEMETERY
Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers
American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings. But now, according to this recent…
The Green Funeral movement is alive in New York City
Amy Cunningham is a friend of mine. She was a writer/editor who has become a funeral director and she has teased me that I was a funeral director who has became a writer/editor with…
Opinion: The Jewish Faith and Cremation
I grew up in the very homogeneous community of Alexandria, Minnesota. From this Wikipedia article you can see that the city at the time of my growing up had a population of a little…
CREMATION
Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers
American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings. But now, according to this recent…
Opinion: The Jewish Faith and Cremation
I grew up in the very homogeneous community of Alexandria, Minnesota. From this Wikipedia article you can see that the city at the time of my growing up had a population of a little…
Does KFC have a template for Death Care?
Alex Fasciano, an analyst for CFRA Research suggests that quick service restaurant player KFC’s (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) strategy is “. .centered on driving growth through brand relevance, marketing innovation, (and) operational excellence. .…
PRENEED
More Americans take on debt to cover funerals
I came across this recent article from USA Today titled “Americans are going into debt over death. Here are affordability tips.” Reading that article led me to a survey and results from Debt.com and…
Preneed companies emerge as funeral home lending sources
Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm that provides a wide range of products and services, including investment banking, wealth management, consumer banking, and brokerage services, recently made this comment in an article, “Life…
Co-op Funeralcare increases “Funeral Plan” sales over 17% despite cyberattack
An April cyberattack which you can read about here probably cost the parent company of Great Britain’s largest funeral home operator, Co-op Funeralcare, about a US$ 107 million profit swing but didn’t seem to…
PRODUCTS
Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers
American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings. But now, according to this recent…
The Green Funeral movement is alive in New York City
Amy Cunningham is a friend of mine. She was a writer/editor who has become a funeral director and she has teased me that I was a funeral director who has became a writer/editor with…
More breakthrough technologies from OneRoom available
The streaming, recording, and re-watching of Death Care memorial events is becoming more and more a staple of what consumers are now expecting from their Death Care event professional. And much like any new…
