The history of funeral directing and funeral home ownership in the United States has been one of passing the torch to the next generation of the family to carry on. My family was no different. . . .we carried our cabinet shop, furniture store, funeral home from the 19th Century into the 21st Century. That was a time period that spanned 141 years, from 1872 when our roots were planted until 2013 when the majority of our firm was sold […]
Park Lawn Corporation, with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, and Houston, Texas, announced in a press release on October 1, that they had reached an agreement to acquire Bowers Funeral Service Ltd. of British Columbia. You can see the press release here. According to the press release, Bowers Funeral Service is a three location firm with locations in Salmon Arm, British Columbia; Golden, British Columbia; and Revelstoke, British Columbia. The press release also mentions that this acquisition will “complement Park Lawn’s […]
Today’s afternoon edition tells of a Dayton, Ohio, decision by a judge that overturns a variance needed to operate a crematory. Funeral Director Daily will also give you news of a large funeral home acquisition of six Ohio mortuaries. Finally, we’ve got some other stories and a listing of some of the events for learning coming up over the next couple of weeks in our profession. News from the world of Death Care: Judge: Dayton crematory should not have been […]
Over the years I’ve often thought that the business of funeral and cremation care as a business is overlooked by those that teach or write of things happening in the business world. It is not everyday that Forbes magazine does an in-depth article on our profession. Last week, Forbes featured an article that you can read here entitled, “How the pandemic is killing the death business.” The article features an in-depth interview with Service Corporation International’s CEO Tom Ryan. It […]
Those of us who have watched the markets over the last few weeks have seen a deterioration in the value of our private investment portfolios. What has happened in the broader market is also indicative of what has happened in the death care industry with the exception of StoneMor, Inc. and its stock and valuation. StoneMor, based out of Trevose, Pennsylvania, operates approximately 320 cemeteries and 88 funeral homes in 27 states and Puerto Rico. It is no secret that […]
This article from Yahoo Finance indicates that Australian and New Zealand public funeral operating company Propel Funeral Partners is growing market share. According to the article it is growing both from acquisitions and an annual death rate increase in both countries. Here is an excerpt from that article: “In Propel’s FY19 investor presentation, the company drew attention to notable industry figures. With death volumes in Australia expected to increase by a rate of 2.4% p.a. until 2026 and 2.1% thereafter […]
In a press release from Foundation Partners Group (FPG) that is dated December 31, 2019, but not known by us until January 2, 2020, we have learned that the company has made an acquisition in Tucson, Arizona which includes the Adair Funeral Homes and Desert Sunset Funeral Home of that area. You can read the press release from FPG here. The press release states that the Adair Funeral Homes were founded in 1956 and at this time the third generation […]
In a press release issued last week Foundation Partners Group announced that it had purchased a group of funeral and cremation operations. The group consists of three business, that were owned by one party, known as Advent Funeral and Cremation Services with locations in Falls Church, Virginia, and Lanham, Maryland. Also included in the purchase was Rapp Funeral Service in Sliver Spring, Maryland, and Chesapeake Crematory in Beltsville, Maryland. You can access the Foundation Partners press release here. According to […]
Over the weekend I noticed two newspaper articles from small town newspapers that involved two separate funeral homes of different size and history. However, in reading the articles and doing a little research by going to the websites of the companies, I noticed something in common. What I noticed in common, quite frankly, has to do with American entrepreneurism and the desire and opportunity to better ourselves through believing in ourselves. It occurred to me, that while we like to […]
Carriage Services, the public company death care consolidator and operator based out of Houston, Texas, announced last week that they had made a major acquisition in the Buffalo, New York, market. In this press release you can read from Yahoo Finance, the company announced that they had acquired the four locations of the Lombardo Funeral Homes in the Buffalo market. According to the release, the firm is a 3rd generation firm, operated since 1984 by Joseph P. Lombardo, the grandson […]
