In 1965, after the death of Mrs. Gracy Garnett, Charles “Pat” Brewer established Brewer Son Funeral Homes in Brooksville, Florida. The Garnett Funeral Home, at that time, was the only funeral establishment in Brooksville. Pat saw an opportunity to go into business for himself and, thus, did so. In the beginning, he ran the funeral home and ambulance service and did his community service while competing against one other funeral establishment. Eventually, both funeral homes would turn the ambulance service over to the county.
In 1974, Pat saw an opportunity to expand his funeral business to the underdeveloped west side of the county called Spring Hill. This proved to be an extremely successful move, as Spring Hill now encompasses over 80% of the county's population.
In 1980, Pat purchased Grace Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Pasco County, later selling his interest to his partners to concentrate his energy on the growth of Brewer Funeral Homes. All of this occurred successfully while raising a family, leading several civic organizations, being a trustee at his church, and running three political campaigns.After several years of self-employment in the construction industry, Barry completed studies in Mortuary Science at Miami-Dade and Business Administration at Pasco-Hernando Community College and the University of South Florida. While in Miami attending Mortuary school, he worked to perfect his skills in funeral service and became very proficient in marketing pre-arrangements. After returning to the family firm, he used those skills to begin marketing pre-arrangements in Hernando County. At the time, no other funeral home had become aggressive in the marketplace, and essentially there was a whole new market to tap into.
Barry worked diligently through the next few years and developed a self-supporting prearrangement department.
In 1987, Barry took over the management of the Spring Hill location on Commercial Way. Shortly after Barry began managing the Spring Hill location, Pat and Barry developed a five to ten-year business plan, which included the addition of two new funeral home locations and a plan for the growth of the Eastern portion of the county during the first five years; the ten-year plan included the acquisition of several established firms.
In 1992, they completed the Seven Hills Chapel and, in 1994, remodeled an 11,000-sq. ft. bank building into their fourth location and one crematory. Shortly thereafter, they began making offers on several local funeral establishments. Although many appreciated the offers, they were not ready to sell.
So, in 1995, the Brewer Funeral Homes and Crematory was merged with Equity Corp. International (ECI) to achieve their ten-year plan further. Pat chose to take a less active role in the day-to-day activities but joined the corporate development team of ECI. While also on the corporate development team, Barry chose to continue managing the firm. While associated with ECI, the company grew from 100 funeral homes to 326 funeral homes and 18 cemeteries in 35 states and 1 Canadian province. The growth had been substantial, and it had been a complete team effort, company-wide, with everyone playing a big role in its success. However, on August 6, 1998, ECI announced its merger with Service Corp. International. As of 1999, SCI owned and operated approximately 3600 funeral homes, 500 cemeteries, and 175 crematories in 18 countries on 5 continents with annualized revenues approaching $3 billion.SCi has been established since the early 60s.
In a company that size, it would be very difficult to make a true difference in the future of operations and/or its growth, and it does not work within the parameters set in the original ten-year plan. This is the reason for starting FAMILY OWNED SERVICE COMPANY, INC. (FOSC), to continue the original Brewer plan, continue to care for families, and make a true difference in the industry. The first acquisition of FOSC was completed on April 14, 2000, with the purchase of our Orlando location at 115 West Gore Street.
In February 1999, we entered into litigation with SCI to force them to allow us to exercise the “first right of refusal” that we had contractually agreed to with ECI in 1994. Due to the merger mentioned earlier, we felt we had the right to buy our funeral homes.
On June 25, 2001, we purchased all three of our funeral homes and our crematory successfully ending the litigation and bringing these properties back into the family of “Family Owned Service Company”.
On July 15, 2003, Mark III Funeral Homes, with two locations in Tampa, Florida, was acquired by Family Owned Service Company. Mark III and the Curry family have a long history of quality funeral care in the Tampa Bay area. We are proud to have them join our company. This acquisition brings our company to 6 locations in 3 counties. Our plan now was to buy or build funeral homes between Tampa, Orlando, and Brooksville/Spring Hill.
On January 26, 2004, Family Owned Services Company acquired Kurfiss Funeral Homes of Lake County (Clermont and Groveland). We are proud to have this third-generation funeral home join our family. With the subsequent sale of our Orlando Funeral Home, this acquisition brought our company to seven locations and one crematory in three counties, all with the Brewer and Sons Funeral Homes and Cremation Services name.
In June 2013, Ryan Brewer (Barry’s 2nd son) joined Family Owned Service Company after graduating from FIU with a Business Finance Degree. Ryan works in our Executive Center in Brooksville as the Trust and Investment Administrator. Ryan is also helping develop our management systems and assisting in our Accounting Department.
On October 15, 2013, Family Owned Service Company entered the Pet Care Business. My Pets Funeral and Cremation was started to care for pets in a dignified, professional manner. We feel the present state of pet care is more like mass communal cremation than the individual loving care that is due to that of a pet parent.
On July 10, 2014, we entered into an agreement to manage Laurel Oaks at Historic Masaryktown Cemetery through Associated Consultants of the Funeral Industry. The cemetery was established in the early 1900s by the Czechoslovakian Community of Masaryktown. Since then, it has been maintained by volunteers. As the years passed, the volunteers could not keep up with the necessary maintenance and management issues required to run the cemetery. That is why we stepped in to assist. Through our management agreement, we will sell all products and services, such as property, vaults, markers, benches, mausoleums, etc., which will provide funding for the growth and maintenance of the cemetery. We plan to build private estates, mausoleums, and different religious gardens, Catholic, Jewish, etc. We also plan to establish a pet cemetery, “Pets at Rest,” on the property for the many families who do not have a final resting place for beloved pets. This agreement allows FOSC to be a complete “Death Care” provider. Funeral Homes, Crematory, Cemetery, and Pet Services.
On July 21, 2015, FOSC purchased the “Eternal Rest” Funeral Home and Cemetery in Dunedin, Florida. This property has a history of “BAD MANAGEMENT.” The recent owner purchased it from the State of Florida after it was placed in receivership from the previous owner. Unfortunately, he also mismanaged the property.
New owner insists troubled Dunedin Cemetery has bright future.
We chose to purchase the property not only for the financial opportunity but also because we felt strongly that the families who entrusted their loved ones to this location and the industry deserved better.
Previous owners focused too much on the cemetery and not enough on the funeral home. We want to build a new, more modern funeral home and redesign the cemetery into a Mediterranean village with mausoleums, private estates, water features, walking paths, and other features that will make the property more inviting and tranquil.
With the addition of this property, FOSC now has 14 facilities, seven funeral homes, two human crematories, two cemeteries, two pet cemeteries, one pet crematory, one care center(embalming), and one auto maintenance facility.
The passing of Brewer & Sons' Founder, Charles "Pat" Brewer
On February 10, 2023, with heavy hearts, Brewer & Sons announces the passing of founder, owner, and patriarch, Charles “Pat” Brewer, who passed due to complications of COVID-19. Pat leaves behind a legacy of kindness, integrity, ingenuity, and the value of hard work. He will be dearly missed.
Two Families Become One, AGAIN!
On June 27, 2024, Family Owned Service Company purchased Michels & Lundquist Funeral Home and Cremation Services in New Port Richey.
For more than 40 years, Michels & Lundquist Funeral Home has helped the people of New Port Richey when they needed it most. Having served thousands of families, the name Michels & Lundquist has become synonymous with quality.
Michels and Lundquist met in 1964 when Michels moved from Duval Funeral Home in Tampa to take over as General Manager of the company's branch in New Port Richey, where Lundquist had been working since 1959.
Michels began his funeral service career at the age of 15 when he took a part-time job shoveling snow, setting up chairs, and washing cars at a funeral home in Michigan. By 22, he had moved to Florida with his family, completed college, and was a Licensed Funeral Director. Lundquist always admired his uncle, who was a Funeral Director. From an early age, Lundquist knew that helping people deal with loss was his life's calling.
In 1994, the day after ECI purchased Brewer Funeral Homes, as mentioned earlier, ECI closed on the purchase of Michels & Lundquist. From 1995 to 1999, Brewers and Michels & Lundquist worked as one company, building lasting friendships and bonds.
We (the Brewer Family) repurchased our property from SCI in 2001. Roger and Andy also repurchased theirs, returning both firms to family ownership. While we (the Brewers) have maintained local family ownership, the Altmeyer family purchased Michels & Lundquist Funeral Home & Cremation Services in November 2013, adding to their string of funeral homes located in West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, and North Carolina.
With the purchase of Michels & Lundquist Funeral Home & Cremation Services in June 2024, We are proud to say that we are one family again under local ownership, where the motto of Michels & Lundquist, "Where Service is a Tradition," joins Brewer's motto, "Family Satisfaction, Without Question."
On June 27, 2024, Family Owned Service Company entered the Alternative Brand. The purchase of Coastal Cremation & Funeral Care and International Cremation & Funeral Care allows us to provide lower-cost options to families looking for more minimum services.
Funeral homes, by nature, have much higher costs related to facilities, autos, staff, and other continuous overhead costs. These are "constant" costs regardless of the amount of services they provide. This is what drives the cost to the consumer to be higher than they are willing to pay or can afford.
Alternative Brands reduce their operating costs by working in smaller facilities, such as leased storefronts or small buildings. Their leases are low, and they generally have 1-2 full-time staff. They rent services as needed, such as cremations, removals, cars, staff, etc. Although it does cost more per case, it's not constant. They only meet families 9a-4p, Monday - Friday, no holidays or weekends. They provide basic services with several add-on enhancements. Most families will start with basic services and pick what they feel they want (Caskets, vaults, urns, keepsakes, specialty items, etc.).
Although a majority of families prefer our full-service funeral homes, crematories, cemeteries, and pet businesses, there are those who are comfortable with the limited service, hours, and selections for lower cost. We cannot afford to provide these services in the constant cost structure of our full-service facilities. This is the reason why the Alternative Brand facilities are a necessary part of Family Owned Service Company.
As the saying goes, "You can't be everything to everybody," but we at Family Owned Service Company are pretty close.
With these new additions, Family Owned Service Company now has eight funeral Homes, two cemeteries, two care centers, two crematories, four alternative choice brands, one maintenance facility, one pet crematory, and two pet cemeteries. Twenty-two facilities in five counties: Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Lake.
