Our Philosophy

1. We believe that grieving New York City families of every faith, creed or practice need more time and control over their experiences at the time of a death. We will counsel you on every option, and help you hone your vision of the event or event sequence. Sometimes the funeral might involve a traditional open casket viewing with hearse, pall bearers and religious service following; sometimes it’s a dance party with decorated pine or willow casket in a Green-Wood Cemetery chapel prior to cremation; sometimes it’s a Jewish chapel service and green burial graveside with your rabbi, or clergy we help find; sometimes it’s a memorial event with cued music, spring water, wine and catered meal in an urban event space. We price with complete transparency, and help create a meaningful funeral ritual or contemporary end-of-life experience that works for you.

2. We believe that each funeral begins at the place of death. We want you to spend time with your deceased loved one to process the new reality, bathe or shroud the body, grieve, sing, pray, tell stories. The amount of time desired for these experiences differs from group to group. We also help do-it-yourself families arrange funerals in their residences (in New York you still need a licensed director and registered firm like ours to file the death certificate). We are reviving the old-fashioned home-based visitation (viewing or wake) in New York which helps families grieve more deeply and authentically in the place they're most comfortable.

  3. We are green burial experts and educate New Yorkers to see that eco-friendly burials without formaldehyde-laden fluids, metal caskets, or burial vaults are gentle, natural, transformative to those actively partaking in the graveside service, and still within the means of many.  Jewish and Islamic burials are generally green, and we share the belief that stewardship of the earth is a vitally important value. We know every progressive cemetery in the New York area that will accept a shrouded deceased person on a pallet without any surrounding casket at all.

4. Our cremations are meaning-infused, ceremonial and they cost less—even with a committal/final farewell service in Green-Wood Cemetery’s five-retort Brooklyn crematory—than cremations through the corporate firms of Manhattan that often cremate in New Jersey. We encourage families to hold committal ceremonies prior to cremation and even, for those up to it, witness the casket’s entry into the cremation chamber at Green-Wood, which is beautifully designed.

 5. We will tell grieving families what caskets NOT to buy. Our biodegradable, gracious offerings are made of wicker, pine or felted wool. We stock simple pine and poplar models with rails and handles. Our wicker caskets start at $2195. We cover our $250 cardboard cremation caskets (which can be painted or decorated) with homespun quilted covers that make them look like a million bucks. Our most stately handcrafted casket costs $3300, and is all hand-woven by artist Mary Lauren Fraser of Fraser Baskets. We also offer hard wood rental/ceremonial caskets with cardboard cremation liners for $1795. Note: with any discussion of funeral prices, we’re required to present you with our funeral home’s general price list.

6. We meet families to make arrangements where they are—the home or apartment, hospital waiting room or reception area, hospice corridors, cafeterias, coffee shops, whatever’s most convenient.

 7. In turn, we deliver everything back to the home—death certificates, urns of cremated remains, condolence thank-you notes, flower arrangements after a memorial service.

8. We help assemble digital obituaries, NYTimes obits and death notices. Feel free to trot out those old family photo albums and shoe boxes of ephemera, and we’ll create a life-encompassing story of your loved one’s life.

We serve New Yorkers of all races, secular and religious backgrounds, and we welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families with open arms. We understand that family comes in all forms and are happy to work with whoever is organizing the funeral and can serve as a signed designated legal agent, whether that agent is biological family, chosen family, or close friends of the deceased. Fitting Tribute’s staff is also uniquely skilled with pregnancy loss and miscarriage rituals. We are active members of the Funeral Consumer's Alliance (FCA), the National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA), Green Burial Council, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA), the National Funeral Director's Association (NFDA). The Cooperative Funeral Fund is our pre-need funeral fund management company.