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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
This Haitian American funeral director makes Miami families feel seen
When Miramar native Evans St. Fort opened St. Fort's Funeral Home in North Miami Beach in 2003, clients were skeptical of a funeral director still in his 20s. After sitting with him for a consultation, however, they quickly realized that St. Fort had far more experience than his youthful demeanor suggested, since St. Fort had spent his childhood watching his father manage a funeral home in Haiti. 'Clients would come and sit with me and look at me crazy because I was just 24 years old, but I knew what I was doing,' he said. 'They just couldn't believe that they were talking to someone so young.' Under St. Fort's leadership, the funeral home has become well-known among Miami's Haitian community and has served thousands of families over the past two-plus decades. While small mom-and-pop funeral homes have increasingly become a target for private equity and corporate ownership, St. Fort, now 46, said he has rejected offers to buy his business, preferring to keep the operation family-run. St. Fort's commitment to both the Miami community and to Haiti, where families were offered free funeral services following the 2010 earthquake, was recently recognized by the city of North Miami Beach, which renamed a street 'St. Fort Drive' last weekend. St. Fort grew up in Miramar and spent his summers with family in Haiti, where his father, Joseph St. Fort, had opened a funeral home in the '90s. He graduated from Miramar High School in 1997 and attended St. Thomas University before pursuing a degree in mortuary studies at Lynn University. After graduating in 2002, St. Fort had an internship at a funeral home while also working part-time at other funeral homes. Although he was just starting his professional career, he had a strong interest in building his own business and eventually found a vacant building that had previously been used as a funeral home in North Miami Beach that he hoped to purchase. St. Fort was 25 at the time, but his persistence in negotiating with the owners of the property paid off. He bought the funeral home using money he received after being in a car accident and funding from his parents and set a goal of becoming the best Black-owned funeral home in Miami. One of the first things he did was update the aesthetics of the traditional funeral home. 'When you walk into our funeral home, the way I wanted to set it up was to make it feel like you're in a hotel lobby,' he said. 'We went with high-end fixtures, nice furniture — modern, contemporary, fresh — so that when you're walking in, you're not feeling depressed.' The facility includes a chapel and reception space and offers cremation services. St. Fort said the business now manages an average of five funerals a week, with him and his team of eight sometimes servicing two funerals at the same time. He has noticed that more clients in recent years are opting for cremation services, as costs for funerals and grave spaces have risen. In that time, corporate entities have been buying out family-run businesses, and the increasingly pricey Miami real estate market has also had an effect. 'When I first got into the business, you could purchase a space [at a local cemetery] for $2,000,' he said, 'Now, you can't get a space cheaper than $15,000. So the reason I say it's dangerous is because what's happening is they're not giving families options anymore.' Today, St. Fort estimates that 70% of business comes via word of mouth. Miami postal worker Carr Alexis, 50, has known St. Fort for years and said he would not have had his late mother's service at any other funeral home. As a Haitian man, there are certain nuances that he only felt comfortable with a Haitian funeral director handling, he said. 'We Haitian people are very dignified,' he said. 'Evans doesn't go about Americanizing [our funerals].' St. Fort has noticed many things about Haitian funerals that separate them from typical American funerals. For example, the color red is frowned upon and cannot be worn. If a child dies, the parents cannot follow the deceased child into the cemetery. Passing out is common during Haitian funerals, and if one person passes out, others generally follow. Similarly, if one person yells loudly during a funeral, other people will, too. 'Haitians are much more emotional and comfortable with sharing their emotions,' he said. Despite Alexis' reassurances about St. Fort, he said his relatives from Montreal came to Miami for his mother's funeral with high standards and a skepticism about whether St. Fort would be able to give her the send-off she deserved. But by the end of the services, they agreed he had lived up to their expectations. 'When everything was done, all I saw was hugs and handshakes thrown at Evans,' Alexis said. Through his work, St. Fort said he has had the opportunity to plan services for the families of some prominent figures in the community, including Haitian musician Wyclef Jean and three-time Miami Heat champion Udonis Haslem. Having Jean sit in St. Fort's office to plan a family member's funeral was a full-circle moment for the funeral director, who grew up hearing people say negative things about the country from which his family came. 'When I was young, I was afraid to tell people that I was Haitian,' St. Fort said. 'But one day I was watching TV and I was watching a Fugees concert, and I saw Wyclef hold up the Haitian flag. When they blew up, I was like, 'Man, so it's not so bad to be Haitian.'' St. Fort said that while his funeral home has received 'a lot' of offers from prospective buyers, including some north of $5 million, he has declined because selling runs counter to his family's mission. 'When we've been approached, I've talked to my family about it, and the goal was not to build something and sell it but build something for the community and pass it along generations,' he said. In addition to the North Miami Beach facility, St. Fort in March opened a funeral home in Riverdale Park, Maryland, with a college classmate who has had success in the area, and he has also started a yacht rental business. His passion for serving others, however, is central to the work his father started in Haiti decades ago. He recommends that anyone pursuing a similar career have the same intention in mind. 'Don't initially get into it thinking, 'I'm doing this strictly for money,' because if you go in there thinking that, it's not going to work,' he said. 'You really have to have a place in your heart where you're about serving people.'
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
This Haitian American funeral director makes Miami families feel seen
When Miramar native Evans St. Fort opened St. Fort's Funeral Home in North Miami Beach in 2003, clients were skeptical of a funeral director still in his 20s. After sitting with him for a consultation, however, they quickly realized that St. Fort had far more experience than his youthful demeanor suggested, since St. Fort had spent his childhood watching his father manage a funeral home in Haiti. 'Clients would come and sit with me and look at me crazy because I was just 24 years old, but I knew what I was doing,' he said. 'They just couldn't believe that they were talking to someone so young.' Under St. Fort's leadership, the funeral home has become well-known among Miami's Haitian community and has served thousands of families over the past two-plus decades. While small mom-and-pop funeral homes have increasingly become a target for private equity and corporate ownership, St. Fort, now 46, said he has rejected offers to buy his business, preferring to keep the operation family-run. St. Fort's commitment to both the Miami community and to Haiti, where families were offered free funeral services following the 2010 earthquake, was recently recognized by the city of North Miami Beach, which renamed a street 'St. Fort Drive' last weekend. St. Fort grew up in Miramar and spent his summers with family in Haiti, where his father, Joseph St. Fort, had opened a funeral home in the '90s. He graduated from Miramar High School in 1997 and attended St. Thomas University before pursuing a degree in mortuary studies at Lynn University. After graduating in 2002, St. Fort had an internship at a funeral home while also working part-time at other funeral homes. Although he was just starting his professional career, he had a strong interest in building his own business and eventually found a vacant building that had previously been used as a funeral home in North Miami Beach that he hoped to purchase. St. Fort was 25 at the time, but his persistence in negotiating with the owners of the property paid off. He bought the funeral home using money he received after being in a car accident and funding from his parents and set a goal of becoming the best Black-owned funeral home in Miami. One of the first things he did was update the aesthetics of the traditional funeral home. 'When you walk into our funeral home, the way I wanted to set it up was to make it feel like you're in a hotel lobby,' he said. 'We went with high-end fixtures, nice furniture — modern, contemporary, fresh — so that when you're walking in, you're not feeling depressed.' The facility includes a chapel and reception space and offers cremation services. St. Fort said the business now manages an average of five funerals a week, with him and his team of eight sometimes servicing two funerals at the same time. He has noticed that more clients in recent years are opting for cremation services, as costs for funerals and grave spaces have risen. In that time, corporate entities have been buying out family-run businesses, and the increasingly pricey Miami real estate market has also had an effect. 'When I first got into the business, you could purchase a space [at a local cemetery] for $2,000,' he said, 'Now, you can't get a space cheaper than $15,000. So the reason I say it's dangerous is because what's happening is they're not giving families options anymore.' Today, St. Fort estimates that 70% of business comes via word of mouth. Miami postal worker Carr Alexis, 50, has known St. Fort for years and said he would not have had his late mother's service at any other funeral home. As a Haitian man, there are certain nuances that he only felt comfortable with a Haitian funeral director handling, he said. 'We Haitian people are very dignified,' he said. 'Evans doesn't go about Americanizing [our funerals].' St. Fort has noticed many things about Haitian funerals that separate them from typical American funerals. For example, the color red is frowned upon and cannot be worn. If a child dies, the parents cannot follow the deceased child into the cemetery. Passing out is common during Haitian funerals, and if one person passes out, others generally follow. Similarly, if one person yells loudly during a funeral, other people will, too. 'Haitians are much more emotional and comfortable with sharing their emotions,' he said. Despite Alexis' reassurances about St. Fort, he said his relatives from Montreal came to Miami for his mother's funeral with high standards and a skepticism about whether St. Fort would be able to give her the send-off she deserved. But by the end of the services, they agreed he had lived up to their expectations. 'When everything was done, all I saw was hugs and handshakes thrown at Evans,' Alexis said. Through his work, St. Fort said he has had the opportunity to plan services for the families of some prominent figures in the community, including Haitian musician Wyclef Jean and three-time Miami Heat champion Udonis Haslem. Having Jean sit in St. Fort's office to plan a family member's funeral was a full-circle moment for the funeral director, who grew up hearing people say negative things about the country from which his family came. 'When I was young, I was afraid to tell people that I was Haitian,' St. Fort said. 'But one day I was watching TV and I was watching a Fugees concert, and I saw Wyclef hold up the Haitian flag. When they blew up, I was like, 'Man, so it's not so bad to be Haitian.'' St. Fort said that while his funeral home has received 'a lot' of offers from prospective buyers, including some north of $5 million, he has declined because selling runs counter to his family's mission. 'When we've been approached, I've talked to my family about it, and the goal was not to build something and sell it but build something for the community and pass it along generations,' he said. In addition to the North Miami Beach facility, St. Fort in March opened a funeral home in Riverdale Park, Maryland, with a college classmate who has had success in the area, and he has also started a yacht rental business. His passion for serving others, however, is central to the work his father started in Haiti decades ago. He recommends that anyone pursuing a similar career have the same intention in mind. 'Don't initially get into it thinking, 'I'm doing this strictly for money,' because if you go in there thinking that, it's not going to work,' he said. 'You really have to have a place in your heart where you're about serving people.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The difference of local: Small businesses cater to life in the Key City
ABILENE, Texas () – May is National Small Business Month, and driving around Abilene, you will see many small businesses, which form the backbone of our local economy. We hear from two local businesses that cater to different aspects of life. At Willow Creek Gardens, life flows through the aisle with fresh air and bright colors. The business stems from the passion of its owner, Adam Andrews. 'When I was in college, I worked for a chain nursery store called Wolf Nursery, and it just kind of gets in your blood, and this is the only way to satisfy that,' Andrews said. 'Like a child, you have a small plant, and you see it grow over the years, and you care for it and you trim it and you water and you fertilize it, and it grows up into a large plant.' Why is my car sticky? Local garden expert explains cause of 'honeydew' That passion also fuels his dedication to his business, which serves customers in the Key City with the right products and plants for Abilene's hot and dry conditions. 'If you walk around and look, you can see everything that we like because that's what we pick,' Andrews said. Although it may look a bit different, another business that celebrates life is North's Funeral Home. Current funeral owner Elliot Kirk got his passion from watching his mother as a funeral director for the Brownwood branch of the local funeral company. He said he looks at the bright side of his job, honoring life. 'We just have to celebrate the life that they lived and the legacy that they leave behind. Look on the bright side of things,' Kirk said. '[ I saw my mother] just comforting people when they're hurting and grieving. I like that she did that. Families used to come to the house when someone passed, and she would get up out of bed and go help them.' TSTC Abilene Campus to launch new facility with trade programs He said continuing his family's legacy and the funeral homes' rich 100-year history in the city means being a familiar face. 'Visit with the people here locally and just be a part of the community, so they can see you. So, when they come in, they see a familiar face, and it just makes it that much more comfortable for the families,' Kirk said. According to the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, small businesses make up 85% of the local economy. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Profits Are Stagnant. But the Funeral Industry Is Not Dead Yet.
'Making It Work' is a series about small-business owners striving to endure hard times. When a young hunter died, Lanae Strovers didn't plan a funeral service with organ music and the Lord's Prayer. After Ms. Strovers, a director at Hamilton's Funeral Home in Des Moines, Iowa, heard the man's family wish for one last hunt with him, she asked a gunsmith to put his cremated remains into some shotgun shells. Then she helped the family plan a hunt in his honor. For a beloved Little League coach, Ms. Strovers turned her funeral home into a mock baseball field, with bases, a popcorn machine and hot dogs. She created a circus — bouncy house, snow cones and all — to commemorate a child taken too soon. She hosted a cocktail hour for a woman who had been a model and fashion designer, building a runway and dressing mannequins in her clothing. In recent decades, the national cremation rate has skyrocketed. That's led profits from funeral services to drop. At the same time, the costs of gasoline, embalming chemicals and staffing have risen. With the steadfast industry on uncertain footing, funeral directors have been forced to innovate. ' I don't want to say that we're going to become party planners,' said Ms. Strovers, who is a spokeswoman and trainer for the National Funeral Directors Association. 'But I think that those two lines are crossing over and we just need to open up our thought process and be there to help the families.' According to a 2024 N.F.D.A. report, more than half of the industry's revenue comes from funeral planning services and the sale of items like caskets. When customers elect cremation, that revenue can be significantly lower: The median cost of a direct cremation, which doesn't include a viewing or service, is $2,750, about a third of that of a traditional package with a casket, viewing, ceremony and burial, which is $8,300. The N.F.D.A. cites numerous reasons behind the popularity of cremations, including cost; environmental concerns; and consumers who are less religious, more transient and increasingly averse to heavily ritualized ceremonies. Similar to other industries, funeral homes have also had to contend with rising costs, the biggest of which is staffing. A serious shortage of licensed funeral professionals has forced some funeral homes to raise wages or expand benefits. 'You're bringing less funds in, but you're also short staffed,' Ms. Strovers said. 'So you're trying to hire people and offer a salary that is acceptable. It's a balance, right?' While some industries could seek out new customers, that's not easy in this line of work. The rising number of deaths from baby boomers, the oldest now in their late 70s, will be offset by the cremation rate in the United States, which is expected to hit 82 percent by 2045. An analysis from IBISWorld, a research firm, predicts that industry growth will be slow, increasing at an average rate of just 1.2 percent annually over the next four years. Walker Posey's family has been running Posey Funeral Directors in North Augusta, S.C., for over 140 years. Though he's in a relatively traditional and religious part of the country, Mr. Posey said the percentage of customers picking cremation is five times what it was a decade ago. 'When people choose cremation and don't choose to have a service attached to it, then the revenue could be drastically lower,' he said. 'But our operational costs remain the same.' His business still needs to maintain its building, vehicles, staff and more. Mr. Posey's solution has been education: informing families that, even if they opt for cremation, they can still add traditional elements such as a viewing or service. He's also been looking into purchasing nearby funeral homes as a way to expand his customer base. And, like Ms. Strovers, he's been defying convention when it comes to services. One of his directors hired a group of costumed superheroes to be the greeters at a young boy's memorial. When a popular local bartender and musician died, Mr. Posey invited several of the man's favorite bands to play at a theater downtown. Nearly 800 people came. Mr. Posey, an N.F.D.A. spokesman, said that his great-grandfather might be surprised by the direction the family business has taken. 'We're no longer just a funeral company who does events,' he said. 'We're an event company who does funerals.' He believes that funerals share many similarities with weddings — and that it's time for funeral homes to start embracing it. Some already have a running start in that direction. More than a decade ago, Einan's at Sunset Funeral Home in Richland, Wash., built an airy 6,000-square-foot event center with a patio and a catering menu that includes a brisket buffet and chardonnay. It's so unlike a traditional funeral parlor, in fact, that 10 to 20 couples hold their weddings there each year. It's even hosted multiple proms. The events center proved so popular that Einan's later spent $2.5 million remodeling its main funeral home — which had the dark and stuffy look of yore — in the same fashion. The Pacific Northwest has long had some of the highest cremation rates in the country, in part because its residents tend to be less religious and more transient. 'These people that we're serving are not wanting what we were offering 40 years ago,' said Sarah Smith, a funeral director at Einan's. 'It's not the same people, it's not the same wants, it's not the same likes and tastes.' Einan's has adapted its approach in other ways, too. After hearing that some families couldn't afford its full-service offerings, it created two offshoot businesses centered on low-cost cremations. Faith Haug thinks more funeral homes should consider revamping their business models. She is the chair of the mortuary science department at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colo. Savvy funeral homes, she said, will find ways to satisfy changing tastes and tight budgets. She also sees a future in alternative arrangements, such as human composting or green burials. Companies that offer these services, she said, have 'truly changed how they operate as a business to give people what they want — and it's not a $10,000 funeral in a metal casket.' If funeral homes fail to adapt, Ms. Haug fears that some will end up closing their doors. Others could sell out to corporations: At the moment, roughly three-quarters of funeral homes are family- or privately owned. The one thing she's not concerned about? That the industry will go extinct. 'Funeral service will exist until there are no people,' Ms. Haug said. 'I mean, animals care for their dead — the profession is not going away. But it does look different than it used to, and it is going to continue to evolve.'
