Read more
When, as a young man, Thomas P.J. Crean took over the funeral business his grandfather had founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, funeral homes comforted and served local families and their communities. The "rationalization" of the industry in the 1970s brought multinational conglomerates that bought out countless funeral homes and kept up a "family business" façade while sacrificing integrity to shareholder profits.
Since 1975, Crean has fought for the rights of the bereaved, exposing the deceptive, unethical, predatory practices of big corporations. It's Your Funeral is a compelling account of Crean's life-and his mission to restore integrity to the funeral business.
Crean's vision is to see the grief-stricken treated fairly and given access to affordable funeral and cemetery services. It's Your Funeral is more than an account of a tireless crusader's battle for fairness and dignity. It's a playbook for those who wish to join the fight to end the exploitation of people at the most vulnerable time of their lives.
About the author
Thomas P.J. Crean's forty-five years in funeral service have made him one of the most knowledgeable and sought-after experts in the industry. Early in his career he became involved in consumer advocacy and public education, and in the late 1990s he led a civilian movement to save Vancouver's only public cemetery-Mountain View-from privatization. He then helped organize 4,000 independent funeral firms to defeat Service Corporation's attempt to trademark the phrase "family funeral care." President of both the Family Funeral Home Association and the Surrey (British Columbia) Hospice Society, he's now focused on his latest project: developing a radically new cemetery concept-a cooperative-while creating the first new cemetery in fifty years in BC's Lower Mainland.
