Schoedinger, city’s oldest family-owned company, sold
Family to remain with funeral home business
Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Service, Columbus’ oldest familyowned business, has been sold to a Houston firm.
The company, founded in 1855 and now in its sixth generation of family ownership, has reached an agreement with Service Corporation International, the nation’s largest operator of funeral homes.
“We have mixed emotions because we love our company, we love what we’ve done to help central Ohio
families through really tough times,” company President Michael Schoedinger said.
“That won’t change. This is a great opportunity to improve and hopefully offer better services.”
Schoedinger said the sale will be largely invisible to customers. All 12 Schoedinger funeral homes will remain, along with the company’s 180 employees, including five family members, who have agreed to remain “long-term,” Schoedinger said.
“All the Schoedingers are staying here, no one is retiring, no one going anywhere,” he said. “We’re partnering with the largest funeral home operator in the U.S. This will allow us to grow even more.”
Schoedinger is the largest funeral company in Greater Columbus, handling more than 10,000 human and pet services a year.
Schoedinger said the company’s current projects, such as a new funeral home under construction in Grove City, will proceed as usual. The sale does, however, provide Schoedinger access to money to improve some of its facilities, he said.
“It’s nice to have that financial support. Some buildings are ready for improvements,” he said. “Our big one on State Street Downtown, they’ve committed a significant amount of money to improve the crematory operations there, and our pet business.”
Schoedinger also noted that all prepaid services will be honored as usual.
The scale of Service Corporation International, which operates more than 1,900 North American funeral homes, will provide other advantages to Schoedinger.
“If someone wants their crematory remains scattered elsewhere, such as in the Rocky Mountains, we can offer that now without paying a lot of money,” Schoedinger said.
Schoedinger said the company’s staff was told this week of the sale, which will close next week.
“Our staff is responding well,” he said. “We all probably have mixed emotions.”
Schoedinger’s roots can be traced to Philip Schoedinger, a German immigrant who started making caskets in 1855 on South High Street. A decade later, he founded Schoedinger & Brown funeral services at 17 W. State St.
In 1919, the company opened its chapel at 229 E. State St., the first Columbus chapel built expressly for the purpose of funeral service, according to the company.
Over the decades, Schoedinger was a leader in funeral industry innovations. The company was the first in central Ohio to use a motorized hearse, the first to offer air conditioning during funeral services, and the first to guarantee advance funeral arrangements. It also was in the forefront of pet cremations and video services.
The sale will leave Egan-ryan Funeral Home, founded in 1859, as the oldest family-owned funeral company in Greater Columbus.
Terms of the sale were not announced.
Service Corporation International, founded in 1962, operates funeral homes and cemeteries in 45 states and eight Canadian provinces. For the first nine months of the year, the publicly traded company had revenue of $3.1 billion and income of $892 million.
The company, also known by its largest brand, Dignity Memorial, declined to comment on the pending sale. According to its website, it owns multiple funeral companies and cemeteries in Ohio, including Crouse-kauber-fraley Funeral Home in Johnstown and Pataskala, Given-dawson-paisley Funeral Home in Coshocton, Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens on the Far East Side, and Sunset Cemetery in Galloway.
Despite the sale, Schoedinger said he still considers the company a family business.
“None of our customers will see anything different. The name stays the same; it’s still Schoedinger.” jweiker@dispatch.com @Jimweiker