2017 Conference
April 23rd, 2017, 2pm
Bringing the Funeral Industry into the 21st Century”
Josh Slocum, Executive Director, Funeral Consumers Alliance
Nationally known expert on funeral issues and activist on behalf of the consumer
Princeton Abbey
75 Mapleton Road
Princeton, NJ
Free parking
Free & open to the public
Past Conferences
2016 Green Burial: A Return to Tradition Mark Harris, author
2015 It’s OK to Die: A Conversation About End of Life Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy, ER physician, award-winning author, and strong advocate for thoughtful end-of-life planning.
2014 Final Rights in the Final Rite: You Decide Who Decides!
Mark Samuel Ross, lawyer and funeral director discussed who has the right to make funeral arrangements, how you can avoid family problems, and how you can ensure that your wishes are followed.
2013 Green Burial in New Jersey—what’s it all about?
Edward Bixby, proprietor of Steelmantown Cemetery, NJ’s only Green Burial Council certified cemetery.
2012 Reclaiming the American Way of Death
Joshua Slocum, Executive Director, Funeral Consumers Alliance and a nationally recognized expert on consumer rights and funeral law, talked about the state of the funeral industry nationwide and specifically in New Jersey, one of only eight states in the nation that require grieving families to hire a funeral director to care for their own dead.
2011 Decision-Making in Geriatric Medicine
David Barile, Medical Director, New Jersey Goals of Care, board certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, hospice and palliative medicine. Older people may in some instances be either burdened with unwanted treatments or denied treatments due to ageism. Specific health goals change markedly as people age (eg. quality of life vs longevity) it is important that patients and physicians discuss specific goals as part of the treatment plan. Aligning goals of care with available therapies improves quality, satisfaction, and cost savings.
2010 The Home Funeral: A new and comforting look at an old-fashioned family event
Home funeral guides Cheryl Clark and Eleanor Jean Dillard, members of A Natural Undertaking, a Pennsylvania-based resource center for home funeral care, talked about the emerging field of home funerals: the emotional and environmental benefits, the process, practices and laws, their own wide-ranging personal experiences.
2009 Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial
Mark Harris is a former environmental columnist with the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. His articles and essays have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Reader’s Digest, E: The Environmental Magazine, Hope, and Vegetarian Times. He is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. For Grave Matters, Mark has been interviewed by Fresh Air host Terry Gross and appeared on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News and the CBC. His views on green burial and funeral matters have been reported on in the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and People magazine, among others.
