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Page A26 SEPTEMBER 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
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Cypress Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park
Announces New President
(L to R) Bob Gordon, Jr and Ken Varner
COLMA,CA— Cypress Lawn Funeral Home & Memo-
rial Park has announced that Bob Gordon, Jr will as-
sume the position of president at the historically signifi-
cant funeral home and cemetery.
Bob Gordon, Jr., is more than well qualified to step into
the role as president of Cypress Lawn. A California native
and 1988 Business Administration and Marketing/Finance
graduate from San Diego State University, Gordon has been
in the funeral service and cemetery industry since 1980. He
was born into a funeral and cemetery family and began his
career in funeral service at the age of 16 on the grounds crew
of his grandfather’s firm, Oakdale Mortuary & Memorial
Park in Glendora, CA. He eventually would work in ev-
ery position at the cemetery and funeral home, rising to the
level of vice president and remaining there until he left the
family business after 14 years of service. Gordon became
the director of sales for the San Diego-based El Camino
Group for two large funeral home/cemetery combinations
that served a large portion of the local Hispanic and Filipino
communities. From there, he moved to Service Corpora-
tion International (SCI), where through a series of promo-
tions, he was made the market sales director for Orange and
San Diego Counties. His leadership encompassed twelve
locations, including six large funeral home/cemetery com-
binations and six stand-alone locations that together pro-
duced $85 million annually in arrangements. Out of the 31
markets that SCI serves, he has consistently been ranked as
Outgoing president and CEO Ken Varner will transi-
tion to a new role at Cypress Lawn as a consultant and
chairman of the board of Cypress Funeral Services, Inc
so he can spend more time with his family. Varner leaves
a 21-year legacy of innovation and continuous growth
for Gordon to assume. During Varner’s tenure, Cypress
Lawn has built a strong endowment fund to care for
the cemetery well into the future, increased its financial
strength to better serve the community, and expanded the
cemetery to meet the needs
of the public. The staff of
Cypress Lawn has grown
from 50 employees to over
200 employees under Var-
ner’s leadership. Some of
the most recent innova-
tions at Cypress Lawn in-
clude the construction of
a new cemetery to ben-
efit the community for
the next 125 years, plus
a new funeral home, cre-
mation facility, and recep-
tion center – the first of its
kind serving San Francis-
co and San Mateo Coun-
ties. Cypress Lawn has also
acquired the Crosby N.
Gray Funeral Home in
Burlingame; Sneider Sul-
livan & O’Connell Fu-
neral Home in San Ma-
teo; and the Miller-Dutra
Coastside Chapel in Half
Moon Bay. Recently Cy-
press Lawn has completely
digitized over 150 years of
records and, in the process,
created individual fami-
ly websites for its proper-
ty owners. With the new
“Cemetery 360” tool,
families have the ability to
visit their loved one’s grave
from anywhere across the
globe, as well as their fam-
ily websites and digital ar-
chives. The family websites
and digital archives pro-
vides families the ability
to safely and securely store
their family history, family
tree, medical records, pho-
tos, videos and more – all
with the goal of provid-
ing a continuing source of
comfort to the families of
Cypress Lawn.
When Varner announced
his intention to depart as
president to the board of
directors at Cypress Lawn,
a search committee was
formed. “When the board
asked me to help identify
potential candidates, I was
looking for several charac-
teristics,” Varner explains.
“They included several
one of the top three market
managers. Gordon is also a
licensed funeral director and
cemetery broker.