By Thomas A. Parmalee
Timothy Totten, who founded Final Embrace in 2001, died of heart failure on May 11.
According to the company’s website, “Tim created Final Embrace in a one-car garage in 2001 while working in a small family funeral home. Utilizing sewing skills he learned from his grandmothers, he modified a store-bought quilt to make a beautiful covering for removals to make a better impression with the funeral home’s client families. The immediate reaction led Tim to sell a few to other funeral homes, and within a year, the garage was too small for the growing venture.”
Ultimately, Totten launched a website and began selling his quilted cot covers across the country, exhibiting at his first statewide trade show in 2007. His work was so well received, and sales were so strong, that he soon began exhibiting at national trade shows.
“Success at NFDA and ICCFA shows expanded the company’s reach and netted new wholesale customers and opened other markets,” the Final Embrace website states. “New customers led to opportunities to introduce additional products and expand the range. The company added dressing table skirts in 2011, zippered pouches in 2012, with Precious Cargo infant removal carriers and church truck drapes joining the growing offerings in 2013. As the company continued to expand the product line, add customers, and outgrow a series of locations, Totten created the amazing VersoTable, which sold more than 700 units in just six months of 2017. The table, which was a finalist for the NFDA Innovation Award, has gone on to become a staple of the company’s catalog and spawned variations like the Service VersoTable, which features interchangeable emblems to honor the deceased’s military service, civic work, or religious affiliation.”
Today, the Final Embrace staff includes more than a dozen full- and part-time employees in two locations.
In 2022, Totten began brainstorming the launch of a magazine that ultimately became Funeral Business Solutions, which was modeled after the defunct Funeral Business Advisor magazine. The magazine focused on providing concrete business solutions to funeral professionals.
Earlier this year, with Totten facing health problems, Funeral Business Solutions magazine was rebranded as Funeral & Cremation Solutions. Joel and Caity Soelberg, the owners of Duncan Stuart Todd LTD, took over as publishers — and Totten stayed on as creative editor, Kates-Boylston Publications reported.
Totten’s work in funeral service actually began years prior to starting Final Embrace or the magazine, when he got a job answering overnight phone calls at a central facility for a nationwide corporate chain. “His expert handling of death calls, service information requests, and other late-night inquiries for those 47 locations soon turned into a full-time job running the print shop for the company’s cluster of 12 funeral homes in Central Florida,” according to the Funeral Business Solutions website
Five years into his career, Totten branched out and took over administrative operations at a privately-owned funeral home and became a trusted adviser to the owner. “From creating funeral home management database systems from scratch to ironing every burial flag and vacuuming lines into the carpet every single day, Totten learned each part of the funeral home business, including graveside services and removals,” the Funeral Business Solutions website states.
An Innovator Beyond Funeral Service
In addition to Final Embrace, Totten co-owned a travel company and a game company and was the founder and manager of the Amazing Race for Charity, which raises $35,000 – 40,000 each year for a dozen charities in Lake County, Florida, as detailed in a Lake & Sumter Style Magazine article, honoring his life.
According to Totten’s obituary, “He was a Master Storyteller, a world-renowned speaker and captivating expert on the American Architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He was happiest when immersed in the many projects he passionately pursued, dedicating his time and creativity to both his businesses and the charitable organizations he deeply loved. Tim created the Amazing Race for Charity in Eustis in 2014 and ran it as the Race Director and President until gifting it to the City of Eustis in 2025. He was also the founder and co-organizer of TEDx Eustis from 2018 until 2025 and continued in 2026 as a curator and coach. He was an aspiring novelist, interactive media creator and visionary game creator.”
His obituary notes that he learned sewing at the sides of his two grandmothers at an early age, which enabled him to combine his love of sewing with his wit and ingenuity to start Final Embrace.
On Facebook, tributes poured out celebrating his life and legacy.
His mother, Robin Jollie Richter, wrote, “Timothy Brian Totten was more than my second oldest son, he was my boss, my co-worker, my co-pilot in all of his many projects, and a best friend. He lured me to Eustis years ago and made me love it as much as he did. How do I live without him by my side every day? For 14 years we worked side by side. I cannot imagine my life without him. He was not just brilliant and caring, he was very special and everyone knew it. I love and miss you, Tim.”
Totten’s celebration of life will be held at the Hideaway Performing Arts Center, 431 Plaza Drive, Eustis, Florida on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at 1 p.m.
Donations of plants or perennial flowers will be accepted. In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations to The Timothy Totten Legacy Fund via Go Fund Me.
According to the GoFundMe page, “We wish to honor his legacy of love, creativity, and philanthropy for years to come through donations collected by this fund.”
Inquires can be made to TimothyTottenLegacyFund@gmail.com.
Arrangements are by Harden-Pauli Funeral Home.
Read his full obituary and leave a remembrance.
Comments (1)