News for the Profession

By Funeral Director Daily October 14, 2025

  News from Suppliers and Practitioners that you can use. . . .       From a Press Release from Foveo : Foveo Memorial Services Inc. (“Foveo) and Tukios, one of the profession’s leading funeral home website platforms, today (October 8) announced a first-of-its-kind integration that lets funeral homes book and embed live stream…

Hollywood Forever’s “High-Rise” mausoleum and “Premium” products may be the future of cemeteries

By Funeral Director Daily October 14, 2025

  This information (with photos) from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery announces the opening of their recently completed Gower Mausoleum.  Here’s a paragraph from the cemetery’s recent announcement:   “Hollywood Forever is honored to announce the opening of the Gower Mausoleum, a new architectural landmark in Los Angeles and the tallest mausoleum in the United States.…

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…

Content planning to boost a funeral home’s online presence

By Funeral Director Daily October 10, 2025

    Boosting Your Funeral Home’s Online Presence: An Action Plan for Content That Engages and Builds Trust In today’s digital world, a funeral home website is far more than a static brochure. It’s the front door of your business for many families — the first place they turn when they need information, reassurance and…

The World Around Us

By Funeral Director Daily October 9, 2025

  I’ ve realized that over my lifetime I’ve had a never-ending compulsion to know what is happening in the world around me.  In my elementary school days our family subscribed to both the morning edition and the afternoon edition of the Minneapolis newspapers.  I can remember reading the sports section — that’s all that…

BUSINESS

Might this be a trend in small community cemetery financing?

By Funeral Director Daily | May 14, 2026

  Nobody really likes taxes. . . .But, then again, nobody wants their loved ones forgotten either.   If you are in the Death Care business you know of the costs to operate cemeteries.  And,…

New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery becomes more immersive

By Funeral Director Daily | May 12, 2026

  This recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine mentions that “Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—a sprawling, hilly burial ground filled with tombstones from the 19th and 20th centuries—has long been a destination for more than the dead.…

Is there something to learn here?

By Funeral Director Daily | May 7, 2026

  I’ll admit that I’m not the most tech savvy person when it comes to knowing how the internet and artificial intelligence might benefit my funeral home.  But, I’m also a business person who is…

FINANCE

Carriage Services Earnings Call: Look for an acquisition announcement . . . and back to the basics in building market share

By Funeral Director Daily | May 15, 2026

Last week Carriage Services reported their 1st Quarter of 2026 Financial Results and also conducted their Earnings Call with stock analysts.  You can read Funeral Director Daily’s article on the 1Q26 earnings here.   Today,…

Matthews International Earnings Call: Memorialization business, more acquisitions such as the Dodge purchase in the works?

By Funeral Director Daily | May 13, 2026

Funeral home and cemetery products supplier Matthews International reported their January thru March 2026 earnings on April 30.  The next day company CEO Joseph Bartolacci and company CFO Daniel Stopar answered questions from stock analysts…

SCI Earnings Call: CEO Tom Ryan answers on Preneed and Managing

By Funeral Director Daily | May 11, 2026

  Service Corporation International reported on their 1st Quarter of 2026 about ten days ago and then followed that up with an Earnings Call with stock analysts that follow the company.  As usual Funeral Director…

REGULATIONS

Might this be a trend in small community cemetery financing?

By Funeral Director Daily | May 14, 2026

  Nobody really likes taxes. . . .But, then again, nobody wants their loved ones forgotten either.   If you are in the Death Care business you know of the costs to operate cemeteries.  And,…

California county sees fit to restrict Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) remains

By Funeral Director Daily | April 30, 2026

  Over the last month or so we have followed a growing discontent in Fresno County, California, and specifically an area along the San Joaquin River about the process of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) remains…

Harvard business professor: Time to pay funeral expenses of organ donors

By Funeral Director Daily | April 14, 2026

  According to this recent article authored by Alex Chan of the Harvard Business School and Kurt Sweat of The School of Public Health at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center “In the U.S.,…

CEMETERY

Might this be a trend in small community cemetery financing?

By Funeral Director Daily | May 14, 2026

  Nobody really likes taxes. . . .But, then again, nobody wants their loved ones forgotten either.   If you are in the Death Care business you know of the costs to operate cemeteries.  And,…

New York’s Green-Wood Cemetery becomes more immersive

By Funeral Director Daily | May 12, 2026

  This recent article from the Smithsonian Magazine mentions that “Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—a sprawling, hilly burial ground filled with tombstones from the 19th and 20th centuries—has long been a destination for more than the dead.…

SCI Earnings Call: CEO Tom Ryan answers on Preneed and Managing

By Funeral Director Daily | May 11, 2026

  Service Corporation International reported on their 1st Quarter of 2026 about ten days ago and then followed that up with an Earnings Call with stock analysts that follow the company.  As usual Funeral Director…

CREMATION

Price: Calculated by Supply and Demand

By Funeral Director Daily | April 29, 2026

  I’m not an economics major but I know that the price I can charge for my goods or services is somewhat dictated by the supply and demand of those goods and services.  Is that…

Are we asking the right question?

By Funeral Director Daily | April 28, 2026

  Over my years as an active funeral director I would be called to the place of death and eventually ask the family before I left, “Are you thinking about burial or cremation?”  If you’re…

Heating homes with cremation emissions: An ethical question?

By Funeral Director Daily | April 13, 2026

    Energy transfer is not a new science.  Yet I was surprised when I read this recent article published in The World – Public Radio that was titled “How cremations are helping to heat…

PRENEED

SCI Earnings Call: CEO Tom Ryan answers on Preneed and Managing

By Funeral Director Daily | May 11, 2026

  Service Corporation International reported on their 1st Quarter of 2026 about ten days ago and then followed that up with an Earnings Call with stock analysts that follow the company.  As usual Funeral Director…

Survey finds continued growth in the Preneed market . . but, there are cracks in the armor

By Funeral Director Daily | April 27, 2026

  Preneed continues to grow. . . .but is the growth enough?  That is a great question and, among other things, we will look at the percentage growth of preneed on a “revenue per preneed…

Park Lawn situation: In Substack article, author Russo opines on the events of last week

By Funeral Director Daily | April 23, 2026

  On Monday of this week Substack, under their “On Deathcare” platform released a very well researched article by author Tony Russo titled, “Why are we still pretending Homesteaders is ‘just’ a Park Lawn investor?”…

PRODUCTS

California county sees fit to restrict Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) remains

By Funeral Director Daily | April 30, 2026

  Over the last month or so we have followed a growing discontent in Fresno County, California, and specifically an area along the San Joaquin River about the process of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) remains…

Parting Stone hires former customer and industry award recipient, continues march forward with funeral home partners

By Funeral Director Daily | April 22, 2026

  Parting Stone, the pioneer in solidified remains, announced last week in a press release that they have hired the 2025 recipient of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Inspiration Award, Katey Houston, “. .…

Batesville makes investment in Eterneva, will “leverage” client relationships

By Funeral Director Daily | April 20, 2026

  Last week Batesville announced in this press release that they had “made an equity investment in Eterneva and formed a strategic partnership with the company to expand access to custom memorial diamonds.”  Batesville also…