Start-up is producing biodegradable mushroom caskets for wholesale distribution

By Funeral Director Daily August 27, 2024

    This article and news story video from Fox 43 of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, will introduce you to a small Franklin County, Pennsylvania, farm where owner Max Justice is on “a mission to bury the way we are buried”.  Justice’s farm is producing biodegradable caskets made from fungi, hemp, and mushroom mycellium.  By the time…

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Selected Educational Trust announces Tribute Technology to match donations

By Funeral Director Daily August 26, 2024

          In a press release received last week the Selected Educational Trust announced that Tribute Technology “has issued a matching gift challenge to donors to the Selected Educational Trust.  Now throught September 30, Tribute Technology will match dollar-for dollar all gifts made to the Trust up to a total of $10,000″.…

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“Place” is very important

By Funeral Director Daily August 26, 2024

    Earlier in August I came across this feature article titled “One of Oregon’s most prominent families appears to want another family’s burial plot” from Willamette Weekly of Oregon about a disagreement in ownership of grave lots involving two families.  And, Service Corporation International (SCI) as the cemetery owner finds themselves right in the…

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Court rules that Non-Compete ban cannot be implemented

By Funeral Director Daily August 23, 2024

    Back in April Funeral Director Daily brought you this article which was titled “Federal Trade Commission bans non-compete agreements”.  The article went on to explain that the Federal Trade Commission made this decision as a regulatory agency and explained the upcoming results of the decision like this:   “This is a comprehensive ban…

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These people can help you with “Creativity”

By Funeral Director Daily August 22, 2024

  Earlier in August Funeral Director Daily penned an article about being “creative” in your work about memorializing those who you are entrusted to care for.  The article, which you can read here, went so far as to start considering the room where you discuss situations with families that you are serving as the “Creative…

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BUSINESS

Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations

By Funeral Director Daily | December 23, 2025

  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…

Trust your instincts, don’t always follow the herd with business decisions

By Funeral Director Daily | December 22, 2025

  If you own, operate, or manage a funeral home or cemetery you get lots of advice — including from Funeral Director Daily at times.  However, I’ve also learned over 40+ years of business ownership…

New York audit of state funeral industry finds “Red flags”

By Funeral Director Daily | December 19, 2025

    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…

FINANCE

Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations

By Funeral Director Daily | December 23, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 18, 2025

  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…

Hillenbrand sale progressing, but some questions remain

By Funeral Director Daily | December 17, 2025

I had almost forgot that Hillenbrand Inc., the former parent company of Batesville, had itself agreed to be sold to Lone Star Funds last August (2025).  I was reminded of that transaction from this recent…

REGULATIONS

New York audit of state funeral industry finds “Red flags”

By Funeral Director Daily | December 19, 2025

    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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 3, 2025

    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

By Funeral Director Daily | November 28, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 11, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 10, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 10, 2025

  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?

By Funeral Director Daily | November 24, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 12, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | October 3, 2025

    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

By Funeral Director Daily | October 1, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 11, 2025

  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

By Funeral Director Daily | December 5, 2025

  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…