By Thomas A. Parmalee
Cole West and John Baker, the founders of Cambridge Memorial Group, have been a familiar fixture at deathcare conventions for the past year or so.
The two young men, both 30 years old, stand out: They’re sharply dressed, well-spoken and interested in acquiring funeral homes.
Now, they’re backing up their talk.
In May, they closed on their first acquisition, buying Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes, which serves about 250 families per year throughout Michigan and nearby states at two locations — one in Kalamazoo and the other in Paw Paw.
TBD Investors, one of Cambridge Memorial Partners’ backers, stated in a LinkedIn post, “Cambridge Memorial Group is a committed capital platform built to be a long-term partner to family-owned funeral homes. Cole and John are not deal chasers. They are company builders with the patience, capital and operating support to help great funeral home businesses grow while preserving the trust, service and community relationships that made them special in the first place.”
Others are backing the pair as well, including institutional investors, experienced CEOs and even their parents – and with the closing of their first acquisition, Scott Betzler, the former owner of Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes, is joining Cambridge Memorial Group as a partner to help keep the business moving forward.
FuneralVision.com recently caught up with West and Baker to learn more about their vision, what made their first acquisition the right fit and their plan for growth moving forward.
How did you two meet and what led you to go into business together?
Baker: We met on the first day of freshman year at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and became fast friends – doing everything from marching band to the debate team to the golf team together.
Though we pursued different paths for college and careers — I pursued commercial real estate and finance – and Cole dived into operations, strategy and technology — we stayed close over the years. I even spoke at Cole’s wedding in 2023. For a long time, we talked about starting a business together, and when the timing finally felt right, we founded Cambridge Memorial Group.
The focus on deathcare came naturally through Cole’s family legacy. Cole’s grandfather, Alphonso West, started a funeral home in Florida over 70 years ago, and the business has stayed in the family since. He is the third generation of his family in the industry.
Cole didn’t initially plan to build his career in funeral service, spending time in other industries first, but when we were ready to take the entrepreneurial leap, we couldn’t ignore the connection to the space. Also, both of us have lost someone and have had to sit on the family side of the arranging table, which has helped us understand the impact that funeral directors make and their potential to help families during a time of need.
Finally, we recognized this as an industry where our professional backgrounds could genuinely add value to help build a strong business and bring new ideas that can help us innovate.
What inspired the two of you to enter the profession through ownership via the creation of Cambridge Memorial Group?
West: We have a deep respect for what it takes to build a funeral home’s reputation from the ground up. That kind of trust with a community isn’t established overnight, and we don’t take it lightly.
We also recognized that the industry is at an inflection point. There’s a significant wave of ownership transitions happening across the country, and we saw an opportunity to enter the profession in a way that felt right to us — by building on an existing foundation rather than starting from scratch. Acquiring established funeral homes means stepping into relationships, reputations and legacies that have already been earned. Our job is to honor that and move those businesses forward.
We were fortunate to assemble a group of investors who not only believe in our vision but genuinely understand the value and nuances of this profession. That support has made all the difference in making this possible.
What specifically attracted you to Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes and Life Story Network in Michigan as your very first acquisition?
West: The first thing that drew us to Betzler Life Story Funeral Homes was the website. We loved the energy that came across and the innovative thinking that Scott Betzler and his team have brought into the way they serve their families – everything from the personalization elements to the culture of the team to the arranging conversations. We think there are some great best practices that the team has created, especially in a higher cremation market, and we look forward to partnering with Scott to bring some of them to other funeral homes we expand.
Life Story Network, which powers many of the video and photo elements and built the site itself, felt like a natural and valuable addition — one with a lot of potential as we continue to grow.
For funeral home owners reading this, how would you describe your “long-term partner” approach and how you plan to the company?
Baker: Cambridge Memorial Group is structured to give us the flexibility to operate with a genuinely long-term view. Unlike many acquisition models that require an exit within five years, we have no forced timeline from our investors. That freedom allows us to make long-term investments, think beyond the next few years and develop team members into greater responsibilities and opportunities over time.
When a funeral home joins our group, we take that seriously. We see it as assuming responsibility to the family or individual who built the business and trusted us with their legacy, as well as to the community being served, and the employees who have poured their effort and dedication into caring for families, often with personal sacrifice to them and their own families. That’s what it means to us to be a long-term partner — it’s the foundation of how we operate.
Many independent funeral home owners worry about losing their culture or identity after a sale. How do you plan to preserve the community trust and legacy that Betzler built?
West: First, Scott Betzler is still very present in the business and will be moving forward. He still serves families at the Betzler Funeral Homes, and we plan to have him work side by side with us, as a partner, as we expand Cambridge Memorial Group. Beyond his role at Betzler Life Story, we want Scott involved in building Cambridge Memorial Group more broadly – his experience and approach to funeral service are exactly what we want influencing the direction of the company.
While that isn’t an expectation of ours for all businesses we acquire, it was important for us in this one, as it’s our first acquisition. Even with that, we still treat community trust and legacy very seriously. The most important thing for us in this transition is to remind the team and keep it top of mind for our leadership team that serving families comes first. We are working with Scott and the general manager of the business, Kristin Adams, to ensure that the standards and reputation that built the business are carried forward and hopefully even improved.
What were some of the biggest challenges or surprises you encountered during your first acquisition process?
Baker: One main challenge was just learning the regulatory steps needed during the process and understanding how different they are from state to state. We were advised very well by our attorney, Jeff Dinerstein, throughout the process, but there was definitely a learning curve for us that we’ll be more prepared for moving forward.
How important was having committed capital and investor backing in making this acquisition possible?
West: Having committed capital was essential for us because it gave us flexibility and options around how we handle debt in our acquisitions and also gave us the ability to move as quickly or as slowly as it makes sense in the future.
Additionally, it was important for us not only to have investor backing, but the right investors. We were intentional about surrounding ourselves with people who have built businesses across a range of industries. They bring experience we can draw on as we scale, and they understand and appreciate the significance of the work being done in funeral service every day.
What does sustainable growth look like to you in the funeral profession – and will you be looking to make more acquisitions in 2026 – or do you intend to grow more slowly?
Baker: Our top priority is making sure that we know the business, and we are putting Betzler Funeral Homes in a position to continue to operate at a high level and expand. We are literally boots on the ground — both of us have moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan, working with the team every day to serve families, learn about the community and learn the business inside and out.
The benefit of having two of us is that we can be in two places at the same time – one of us can be more focused on operations and transitions post sale and one of us can be more focused on the acquisition part of the process. As a result, we plan to continue to meet people and explore acquisitions if the right fit comes along, but we don’t have the pressure to acquire more immediately. We want to be intentional about the businesses we partner with, so we can build Cambridge Memorial Group the right way.
How do you evaluate whether a funeral home is the right cultural fit for Cambridge Memorial Group?
West: The best partners we’ve found are proud of their legacy and their community relationships, but they’re also curious about how to do things better — whether that’s through new technology, stronger team development, or expanded services. That balance of tradition and innovation matters a lot to us. We’re actively working to improve every day to better serve our families, and we ask that the funeral homes we work with are open to that as well.
What advice would you give to funeral home owners who may eventually consider succession planning or partnering with an outside group?
West and Baker: Start thinking about your succession plan early, whether that is to transition the business to a key employee, family member, or an outside group. Preparing for this step before you’re at a point where you’re burned out and ready to leave tomorrow gives you more options on how you gracefully transition your business and ensure your successor(s) are best equipped for success.
Second, get clear on what you want out of a transition and don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions — of outside groups, family members, or internal candidates alike. What will your role look like after the deal closes? How will your community relationships be handled? What happens to your staff? These questions matter, and any partner worth working with should welcome them. We certainly do. We know how personal this decision is, and we want the owners we work with to choose us just as deliberately as we choose them.
What opportunities do you believe younger entrepreneurs and operators bring to the deathcare profession today?
West and Baker: We know funeral service is evolving: Cremation rates are rising, technology is changing, and the traditions families want are shifting. Funeral homes need to evolve with it. We have deep respect for the people and legacies that built this industry into what it is today, and we believe that bringing younger entrepreneurs and operators (people with different backgrounds and experiences) into the conversation is one of the ways the profession can continue to raise the bar. We believe fresh perspectives don’t replace what’s been built; they build on it.
When families walk through the doors of one of your funeral homes, what experience do you ultimately want them to have and remember?
West and Baker: We want families to feel respected, seen and cared for when they walk through our doors. We want the arrangement process to feel as clear and manageable as possible, with consistent communication every step of the way, so families never feel left in the dark.
We also want to meet families where they are. Some want a more technology-forward experience (digital tools, video tributes, online arrangements) and we want to be able to deliver that seamlessly. Others want something more traditional, and we want to honor that just as well. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to grief, and we don’t want families to feel like there is.
Ultimately, we want to go above and beyond to meet the needs of our families and leave them thinking that someone made an incredibly difficult time just a little bit more manageable.
Learn more about Cambridge Memorial Group.
