Milestone Partners, a privately held funeral and cemetery organization with a strategic focus on the states of Maine (where the company is headquartered), New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, recently announced that it has acquired Brown & Powers Funeral Homes, which serves Hornell, Angelica and Canisteo, New York.
The company focuses on “growth through partnership, development, and unparalleled equity options,” according to its LinkedIn page. “Our leadership team and investors are deeply committed to our model of local partnership. As a result, we are actively engaging in deliberate expansion through acquisition, mergers, and start-ups across the New England, Tri-State, and Mid Atlantic areas,” the page states.
Brown & Powers has a rich history: In 1949, LaVerne and Luella Bender established the Bender Funeral Home at 354 Canisteo St. in Hornell. Mr. Bender had been an instructor at the Simmons Institute of Mortuary Science in Syracuse and was well qualified to own and manage his own funeral home.
In 1981, the business was acquired by the Brown & Powers Funeral Home of Canisteo, which later changed its name to Bender-Brown & Powers Funeral Home. The Canisteo Funeral Home was established in 1963 by Gerald Brown, who after 50 years in funeral service, continues to work daily, serving the needs of the entire community. Since that time, the funeral home has grown and undergone several expansions, according to the firm’s website.
The website goes on to state that in 1985, the funeral home bought the former Landon-Beaver Funeral Home of Hornell and incorporated that business into the Canisteo Street location. In 2006, it also acquired Robertson Funeral Home, one of the area’s oldest established funeral firms, and merged that business into the Canisteo Street location.
In 1999, the Brown & Powers Funeral Home expanded into Allegany County, and established a funeral home in Angelica, NY. This one story, ranch style home, is proud to serve all of Allegany County.
One of the area’s largest funeral firms, Brown & Powers continues to serve their families under the guidance of Gerald R. Brown and Chester A. Gosper IV, both licensed funeral directors, in the same caring tradition established by LaVerne Bender in 1949.
Milestone Partners is led by Michael R. Martel (pictured at top), co-founder and CEO, who serves as president of the Maine Funeral Directors Association.
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