Is Private Equity the Problem, the Solution, or Both?

Garrett Casey on Independence, Succession, and Consolidators

Garrett Casey was drawn to funeral service as a business opportunity. After selling his ambulance to that industry’s equivalent of a consolidator, he and his family were looking for a new venture. Around that time, his mother died, and the funeral, he said, was sub-par.

“We had such a terrible experience with the funeral home. I said, ‘Wait a minute. We could have done this a whole lot better,’” Casey said. “We bought an old funeral home. I think it cost me $300,000 to buy all of the real estate and the business back in 1998. The operation was doing 30 calls a year. Since then, we’ve bought three more. We have a brand new building. Last year we did 460 calls.”

Separating Legacy from Tradition

Casey attributes his success and ability to stay independent to, essentially, worrying about his family name but not his legacy. It’s a fascinating insight.

He’s a first-generation funeral director, which, he said, frees him from worrying about upholding his great-grandfather’s legacy. His son and his granddaughter are funeral directors, so he also already has a succession plan in place. From that perspective, Casey said he wants the name to be associated with a sense of service and quality without committing future generations to specific practices.

The attitude is more important than the details. That is, Casey focuses on the things they must do, like who answers the phone or how removals are performed, and doesn’t impose convention on families.

I guess the way to put it is he doesn’t confuse legacy with tradition. No matter the changes in what families want, the attitude toward the way they’re served remains constant.

“If somebody wants my business because they’ve had a death, the worst day in their life, I want to be on the other end of the phone, or I want a Casey to be on the other end of the phone,” he said. “If you’re not doing it for your family name, then I don’t know how you succeed in the business.”

Private Equity; Private Margins

One way, of course, is on the margins. The recent acquisition of four of his nearby competitors by New England consolidator Milestone Funeral Partners only highlighted the continued rise of private money in funeral service.

Casey doesn’t necessarily worry about the new competition, which he doesn’t think will be much different from the old competition. His worry has more to do with the nature of private equity. Many of these companies rely more on acquisition than efficiencies to generate revenues.

“Right now, the economy is such that there’s a ton of money out there. It’s all over the place, not just in the funeral industry, but private equity people really see the funeral industry as being totally relatable to consolidation,” he said. “What scares me, Tony, is where does it all end up, right? Do these people end up going public? Do they end up just taking their resources and putting a nice bow on it and selling it to SCI? I mean, you can’t predict what’s gonna happen.”

Back in May, a local reporter ran a story about the Connecticut funeral industry, specifically the four properties that changed hands at the end of 2025 between Carriage and Milestone. So, from Casey’s perspective, his competition didn’t “really” change. For him, it goes back to the name on the building. He believes if it’s yours, you naturally work harder than if it’s someone else’s.

According to Casey, the less desirable Connecticut funeral homes were part of a bigger deal to buy some plum properties in Buffalo, N.Y., in October 2025. The lack of revenue from the seven properties was part of a $9.7 million ding Carriage took on its full-year earnings report.

Divestment vs. Long-Term Growth Strategy

At the time, Carriage CEO Carlos Quezada emphasized that divesting the non-core properties would prove beneficial in 2026 as the company continued to focus on driving revenue at the property level and being more strategic in its acquisitions.

Both Carriage and Milestone dispute the deal’s characterization.

“From time to time, we may divest certain businesses that we believe no longer fit our long-term growth strategy but would be a good fit for other companies that could unlock value based on their platform, focus, and operating approach,” Quezada said. “We highly respect the Milestone team and greatly value their approach to our industry and the customers they serve. Here, we believe these businesses are a great opportunity for the Milestone team going forward, and we are excited to see what comes next under their ownership and guidance.”

Mike Martel, CEO of Milestone, said the Connecticut deal has its own merits.

“As a founder, owner, and lifelong funeral director, I am extremely proud of every one of our partners in Connecticut,” he said.

Martel’s take on private equity, though, is where the Connecticut deal and this influx of cash are probably best addressed. From his perspective, what’s critical is how the money is used and that it exists at all.

“Private capital has provided much-needed liquidity to funeral service at a time when many independent owners are approaching retirement and succession decisions,” Martel said, adding that Rosewood Private Investments, which backs Milestone, “have been patient, long-term investors who share our commitment to service, support our local leadership teams, and understand the unique responsibilities that come with funeral home ownership.”

He went on to say that ownership cycles are a natural part of any business, but the real question is the approach to ownership.

“In my experience, the more important question is not who owns a funeral home, but how it is operated. Responsible investors recognize that funeral service is fundamentally a relationship business built on trust, reputation, and long-term community engagement,” Martel said. “Any ownership group that loses sight of those principles is unlikely to succeed, regardless of its capital structure.”

The Succession Vacuum

Everyone involved pointed to the same facts about succession: many if not most independent funeral directors are woefully underprepared for the end of their careers (or their lives). That means a chunk of them are on the verge of a succession quandary.

Private equity is one of the solutions to that problem. In a way, it widens the consolidator playing field beyond the publicly traded companies and Homesteaders/Park Lawn. The disconnect, though, isn’t just a matter of perspective, it’s attitudinal.

I think that’s one of the reasons Martel pointed out that he and partner TJ Smart are lifelong funeral directors. The implication being that working funeral directors are naturally disposed to try and make funeral homes better. Having actually served families for a living isn’t necessarily common among consolidators.

“If capital helps us accomplish those goals while creating opportunities for the next generation of funeral professionals, then I believe it can be a positive force for our profession,” Martel said.

At the core of what makes people ambivalent about embracing private equity is they see it as either a weapon or a tool, like a financial gun. I like that analogy, because it comes down to who wields it and what their goals are.

It’s something I’ve seen in the news business, where private money is both feasting on the bones of legacy media and financing its future. It’s the natural result when an industry doesn’t evolve on its own.

I don’t imagine the changes in funeral service will be that much different, because the problems are the same. This is an industry that’s seeing its influence fade under massive shifts in technology and culture that can no longer be ignored without penalty. The opportunity for the well-funded is undeniable, but fraught. After all, opportunity attracts opportunists, and telling them from long-term investors is a skill unto itself.