Local funeral homes merge

The proliferation of large "death care” corporations has inspired three San Mateo County family-operated funeral homes to merge. The funeral homes of Crosby-N. Gray & Co. of Burlingame, Sneider & Sullivan &O’Connell’s of San Mateo and Miller-Dutra of Half Moon Bay will operate under the umbrella Cypress Lawn.

The merger is to compete with larger funeral and cremation corporations, but Cypress Lawn’s partners will still be run by their respective family businesses.

Kenneth E. Varner, president and CEO of Cypress Lawn Cemetery and Funeral Home said in a press release that "it is critically important that funeral services reflect the culture of the community population.

"It is very hard for an international company with thousands of funeral homes worldwide to understand the priorities of the families and culture of a community …,” Varner said.

The merger comes in light of a trend of larger death care corporations acquiring locally owned funeral homes and cremation services. This, in turn, creates stiff competition for family-operated funeral homes to compete while maintaining their close ties with their community.

"This merger ... allows each (funeral home) to offer a greater variety of services,” Varner said.

For example, Cypress Lawn performs cremations on its own grounds so the dignity of the deceased is maintained without requiring transportation to another facility to await cremation. Any pre-merger arrangements with the funeral homes will be maintained despite this merger, Varner assured.

"The preneed funds will remain in the financial institution where they presently reside until required,” Varner said.