On Friday I was lucky enough to get to go through what has became one of the funnest days of the year for me. For the 4th straight year I was selected via my position on the University of Minnesota Board to participate in the commencement exercises for the school’s graduates of Mortuary Science program.…
Today we bring you a short, less than 3 minute video, and article that you can access here that has the CEO of death care conglomerate InvoCare speaking on why he believes it “is a transformational time” in the industry. CEO Martin Earp, speaking with CNBC, talks of the major shift on how people are…
I spent three days last week at my annual funeral professional/death care professional golf event that I have attended almost every year since first being invited in 1991. From my count, there are about 130-144 invited guests that enjoy three days with each other in an atmosphere of fellowship and friendship. Most of the talk…
At the close of business Monday, May 7, Park Lawn Corporation announced that it had completed its announced purchase of Signature Funeral and Cemetery Investments, LLC (the Signature Group) for approximately US$123 million. You can read the press release from Stockhouse here. According to Park Lawn CEO Andrew Clark, “With the acquisition of Signature Group,…
When looking at today’s column I noticed that there was a lot of small tid-bits in the news about funeral service and I decided to give you readers the option of reading what you wanted to instead of having me dictate one article to you. Here are four articles that I have commented on briefly…
BUSINESS
Hollywood Forever’s “High-Rise” mausoleum and “Premium” products may be the future of cemeteries
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…
Content planning to boost a funeral home’s online presence
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…
Can independent funeral home operators undercut “wannabe” national cremation providers on price?
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…
FINANCE
Another private equity purchase on the horizon?
There is a lot happening in the Death Care world. . . especially when it comes to Death Care businesses changing hands. We recently learned that Funeral Partners, one of Great Britain’s largest…
Pure Cremation’s private equity owner putting the business up for sale
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,…
Milestone Funeral Partners adds funeral home acquisitions
According to the Milestone Funeral Partners website, which you can access here, and information placed on social media, the Maine-based funeral home operator and consolidator added four funeral home businesses to their number in the…
REGULATIONS
Veteran Cemeteries will continue with burials. . . but what is open and closed on a government shutdown
Tomorrow is the last day of the federal government’s fiscal year. That is not necessarily a big deal except that the new federal budget year begins on Wednesday and as I write this on…
Indiana Court: “Death Doula” does not need a funeral director license
According to this issue of the Indianapolis Star an Indiana court of appeals ruled in late August that the State of Indiana “violated the First Amendment rights of a Fort Wayne “death…
Funeral Directors are heroes
The beginning of a recent article on the ASD Blog, authored by Jessica Farren, had a quote without, to my knowledge, an author’s acknowledgement. I will post it here with no acknowledgement…
CEMETERY
Hollywood Forever’s “High-Rise” mausoleum and “Premium” products may be the future of cemeteries
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…
Park Lawn adds Memorial Gardens in Taos
According to this press release from Park Lawn Corporation, the funeral home and cemetery consolidator added what they call their Taos Memorial Gardens adjacent to their existing DeVargas Funeral Home in Taos, New Mexico.…
Green Burials. . . . . .The Resistance
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…
CREMATION
Pure Cremation’s private equity owner putting the business up for sale
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,…
Can independent funeral home operators undercut “wannabe” national cremation providers on price?
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…
Green Burials. . . . . .The Resistance
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…
PRENEED
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…
Acquiring client families — “Any Which Way You Can”
As so often happens in my world I’ve had some real life and/or businesses experiences or discussions in the last week or ten days that has made me think about Death Care. And,…
PRODUCTS
News for the Profession
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…
Hollywood Forever’s “High-Rise” mausoleum and “Premium” products may be the future of cemeteries
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…
News for the Profession
Sunset continues to redefine their process of finding assets for families. They recently announced that they have a new website that makes the search for assets even easier. Sunset is a free service…
