Waterloo funeral director has his licence revoked

WATERLOO — The Bereavement Authority of Ontario has revoked the licence of a longtime local funeral director over allegations of financial misconduct.

The authority’s action prohibits Robert Edward Albert Ruggle from serving as a funeral director in Ontario. Ruggle had served as the managing director of the former Robert Ruggle Funeral Home Ltd. on King Street North in Waterloo until his departure this spring.

The funeral home is now operating under a new name with new management.

“The Bereavement Authority of Ontario was alerted to certain discrepancies in documentation involving that funeral home” and conducted an investigation, the authority’s registrar and chief executive officer, Carey Smith, said Wednesday. The funeral home did sustain some financial losses as a result, Smith said.

Given the opportunity to contest the allegations, Ruggle did not appeal the Bereavement Authority’s proposal to revoke his licence.

He can reapply for a licence after a two-year period, but “conduct that would involve any sort of misappropriation of money or any financial issues is very difficult to overcome,” Smith said.

The Bereavement Authority regulates death care in the province, including funeral homes, cemeteries and crematoria and the people who work in them. Revoking a licence is the most serious sanction it can administer, Smith said. Most provinces have their own licensing procedures, but given the action taken in Ontario, “it would be a challenge for him to be licensed anywhere else.”

Without a licence in Ontario, someone can own a funeral home but cannot sell, offer to sell, or provide any licensed supplies or services defined in the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act. There are about 2,300 funeral directors in Ontario; Smith said his office might revoke a handful of licences each year, usually for financial problems.

“We take any financial issues very, very seriously,” Smith said. “We can’t allow consumers to be put at risk.” Funeral homes typically hold onto large sums of money in trust for individuals and families who have prepaid for services.

Smith said there’s nothing to indicate that the deceased weren’t treated with “the utmost propriety” at the facility. “It’s purely bookkeeping and financial.”

Purchased in 2003, the Robert Ruggle Funeral Home was then renovated and expanded. A biography on a cached version of its website stated that Ruggle had worked in the funeral industry in a variety of capacities since 1995.

A Facebook post from April states that “Robert Ruggle, his family and staff, have left the established location at 617 King Street North in Waterloo. We are in transition and are weighing out all options at this time.”

Ruggle could not be reached for comment by press time Wednesday.

Graham Giddy and his family have been managing the funeral home since that time; the name has since changed to the Graham A. Giddy Funeral Home, Waterloo Chapel. The Giddy family has owned and operated funeral homes in Elora and Fergus for more than 35 years.