Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1540865
V O L . X X X I N O. X X V N OV E M B E R 3 , 2 0 2 5 18 FA M I LY OW N E D B U S I N E S S Walker feels the same way, even if his three young children end up choosing different paths as adults. He also underscores that while financials are important for any family business, they don't drive the mission of taking care of families. "If we do our job, the business will take care of itself," he says. Ownership by acquisition Not all funeral home owners come into the business through family succession. Take Michael Martel and Timothy "TJ" Smart, two longtime funeral directors who founded Milestone Funeral Partners in 2021. e Auburn-based business owns 78 funeral homes across New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont. It's also about to expand in its own backyard with the acquisition of five locations in Maine due to be finalized later this month. rough a separate business called Milestone Cemetery and Crematory LLC, they own Brooklawn Memorial Park & Crematory near the Portland International Jetport and Auburn's Gracelawn Memorial Park — which established Maine's first crematory in 1950 and its first mauso- leum a decade later. Martel, who grew up in Lewiston, started in the profession doing part-time janitorial work as a teenager at a local church helping clean up after funerals before taking a job at a local French Catholic funeral home. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E Make new connections with the Lewiston/Auburn business community! REGIONAL SP ONSORS HORS D'OEUVRES / CASH BAR / NETWORKING WITH AREA BUSINESS EXECUTIVES S PACE IS S PACE IS L IMITED L IMITED, BE S URE TO , BE S URE TO R EG IS TER! R EG IS TER! Please register ahead at www.mainebiz.biz/OTRLA25 PRESEN T ING SP ONSOR LEWISTON / AUBURN W E D N E S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 9 / 4 – 6 P. M . / H I LT O N G A R D E N I N N AU B U R N R I V E R WAT C H F O C U S P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Michael Martel is CEO of Milestone Funeral Partners LLC, an Auburn-based owner of 78 funeral homes in six states. It aims to finalize the acquisition of five in Maine this month.