Death is the great equalizer. It strikes 100 percent of the population – albeit in different ways – without regard to considerations of race, gender or class. It is a certainty that every Black, white or Hispanic person will die; every man and woman will meet his or her maker; and every penniless widow and powerful billionaire will pass away.
Cultural factors may hasten mortality for some, such as Black men lynched at the hands of an angry mob, a Muslim woman stoned in a honor killing for being raped or a Japanese businessman who commits hara-kiri to save face. And some, like Apple’s storied CEO Steve Jobs, may be able to pay to delay the inevitable with experimental medical treatments.
But eventually, we each have a date with the Grim Reaper.
So what does that have to do with “buying the farm”? This expression came about to describe how the death of a farmer who had a mortgage paid off on behalf of his heirs through life insurance.
Though historically, those whose work involved end-of-life, death and afterlife issues often have operated at the fringes of society, bereavement-related industries, from hospices to cemeteries, are a vital part of the economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Economic Census, for instance, funeral homes alone contributed $15 billion to the national economy.
Join IMBM as over the next several pages we examine this complex industry and journey into what is truly the Final Frontier.
New Palestine native Angela Ahrendts, 54, senior vice president of retail and online stores for Apple, has been awarded Dame Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the equivalent of knighthood for women. Though Queen Elizabeth II was said to have approved of the honor, Ahrendts received the honor from business secretary Vince Cable rather than the queen because she was not born a British citizen.