In this very brief press release issued out of Toronto, Ontario, last weekend funeral home and cemetery operator Park Lawn Corporation announced that they had acquired two free-standing funeral homes in Colorado’s Western Slope.  The press release announced that they had purchased substantially all of the assets of Hood Mortuary located in Durango, Colorado and in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

When you look at the website of Hood Mortuary, which you can access here, it appears that these two funeral homes were under common ownership.

Jennifer Hay
Park Lawn CEO

Jennifer W. Hay, Chief Executive Officer of Park Lawn Corporation made these prepared comments in the press release, “We are pleased to deepen our Colorado presence through the strategic acquisition of the Hood businesses.  These outstanding businesses will allow us to better serve the communities of the Western Slope and will be an excellent addition to our existing portfolio of high-quality businesses in Colorado.” 

According to the press release, Park Lawn Corporation operates businesses in two Canadian provinces and 17 of the United States.

Park Lawn Leadership Changes —  This is the first press release we have seen from Park Lawn Corporation that lists Ms. Hay as the Chief Executive Officer.  For the last several years Mr. J. Bradley Green had been in that position.

I first learned in late April that Mr. Green was no longer with Park Lawn Corporation.  To date, at least that I can find on their website, the company has issued no public press release on Mr. Green’s departure nor Ms. Hay’s ascension to the top position at Park Lawn Corporation.  The last notice that we had on leadership changes at Park Lawn Corporation was a press release on September 10, 2024, about one month after the company was taken private.  Funeral Director Daily published this article on those personnel moves on September 12, 2024.

The Female Leaders — Jennifer Hay joins Lilly Donohue as CEO’s of two of the largest four funeral home and cemetery consolidators in North America.  Lilly Donohue has been, for the past couple of years, the CEO of Everstory Partners, a private company operating over 450 funeral home and cemetery locations in North America and Puerto Rico.

LIlly Donohue
Everstory CEO

While Everstory Partners and Park Lawn Corporation are now private companies and revenue numbers are somewhat hard to come by, I don’t think it is a stretch to suggest that Service Corporation International, Everstory Partners, Carriage Services, and Park Lawn Corporation are the four largest funeral home/cemetery businesses (by revenue) in North America.

On the topic of female leadership, here’s an article on the Lisa Baue led movement for women’s leadership in funeral service.  There is no doubt that the number of women in funeral service is greatly increasing and Hay, Donohue, and Baue have the opportunity with their positions to promote and increase female leadership in the profession.

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Changing the architecture of death.  Pursuit (Australia)
• Human compositing legislation is back from the dead this session.  Will it become legal in Rhode Island?  Providence Journal (RI)
• Irvine mayor asks council to vote again on veterans’ cemetery.  Great Park residents oppose.  KABC Eyewitness News – Los Angeles (CA)
• Vermont funeral home first in the state to use water cremation.  WCAX ABC Channel 3 – Burlington (VT)
• Dignity in Death:  Casket company helps seniors plan and carry out their final wishes.  The Strait Times (Singapore)

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