life with dedication excellence & innovation type public traded as nyse sci industry death care founded 1962 headquarters houston texas united states number of locations 2 004 2015 key people robert l. waltrip chairman & founder ; thomas l. ryan ceo products funerals cremations pre planning brands dignity memorial dignity planning national cremation society advantage funeraria del angel neptune society revenue 2.986 billion usd 2015 1 net income 234.9 million usd 2015 1 total assets us 11.7189 billion 2015 2 number of employees 23 785 2015 http investors.sci corp.com phoenix.zhtml c 108068 & p irol reportsannual website www.sci corp.com headquarters service corporation international is an american provider of funeral goods and services as well as cemetery property and services . it is headquartered in neartown houston texas . 3 4 sci operates more than 1500 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries in 43 states eight canadian provinces and puerto rico . contents 1 company history 2 recent acquisitions 3 brands 4 business model 5 notable properties 6 controversies 6.1 costs 6.2 texas 6.3 florida 6.4 virginia 6.5 california 6.6 massachusetts 7 references 8 external links company history edit robert l. waltrip a licensed funeral director who grew up in his family s funeral business founded the company in 1962 . 5 sci began as a small network of funeral homes and cemeteries in the houston area . as sci grew its offshore presence it continued to acquire businesses in north america a marketplace that by the late 1990s had become extremely competitive among companies seeking to buy death care businesses . sci alderwoods group and stewart enterprises emerged from this period as the three largest companies in the industry . on december 31 1999 sci owned and operated 3 823 funeral service locations 525 cemeteries 198 crematoria and two insurance operations located in 20 countries on five continents . 6 in 1999 sci also introduced dignity memorial 7 the first transcontinental brand of death care services and products in north america . by unifying its network of funeral homes and cemeteries under one brand name sci believed it could establish recognizable and communicable brand values . in 2000 poor market conditions forced sci to reevaluate operations . while foreign operations had once shown promise nearly 70 percent of sci s revenue was generated by operations in the united states and canada . the company decided to divest many of its offshore businesses in addition to many north american funeral homes and cemeteries . 8 the uk arm now operates as dignity plc. between 2002 and 2006 sci reduced its net debt total debt minus cash by more than 1.0 billion increased operating cash flow and simplified its field management organization to enhance efficiency performance and accountability . it also changed business and sales processes tightened internal controls following the protocols strengthened corporate governance standards and established a new training and development system . for its shareholders sci returned value through more than 335 million in share repurchases and it resumed payment of a regular quarterly dividend in early 2005 the first since 1999 . 9 recent acquisitions edit in 2006 sci merged with alderwoods group its nearest competitor in terms of size . the federal trade commission ftc blocked the merger citing concerns over consumer choice . after agreeing to divest funeral home and cemetery locations in several markets and end licensing agreements with other funeral homes the ftc allowed the merger to continue . by 2007 the integration of alderwoods s locations and operations was complete . in 2009 sci put in a bid to purchase keystone north america for 208 million . the purchase was completed in 2010 and added about 200 locations . in may 2013 sci signed a 1.4 billion deal to purchase stewart enterprises the second largest death care company . 10 in december 2013 the ftc imposed conditions on the acquisition requiring the two companies to sell 53 funeral homes and 38 cemeteries in 59 local markets and requiring the merged company to be subject to a ten year period during which the ftc will review any attempt by the company to acquire funeral or cemetery assets in those local markets . 10 brands edit sci operates the following brands in the united states and canada 11 dignity memorial founded in 1999 provides services in 41 states and seven canadian provinces . dignity planning dignity planning provides funeral planning and arrangements through dignity memorial north america locations . advantage advantage provides basic funeral services and products . funeraria del angel funeraria del angel provides specialized services for hispanic customers . memorial plan memorial plan currently manages six funeral homes and five cemeteries in south florida . national cremation society founded in 1972 national cremation society is the oldest and largest cremation service in the united states . neptune society in june 2011 sci announced the purchase of a 70 % interest in neptune society a national cremation services company founded in 1973 . 12 business model edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message sci s network of funeral homes consists almost entirely of existing businesses that the company acquired . sci tends to buy successful funeral homes that are firmly settled and already well known in their community . sci then retains the funeral home s original name often along with former owners who are kept on as management . a typical funeral home that is owned by sci will not contain advertisements or logos for sci with the exception perhaps of employee pins on staff lapels . as a consequence most north american consumers are unfamiliar with the company itself . instead sci places strong emphasis on their dignity memorial brand . the dignity logo can be seen throughout sci s funeral homes and cemeteries on staff signage paperwork vehicles etc. notable properties edit rose hills memorial park in whittier california the largest single site operating cemetery in the world at 2 500 acres 10 km2 . 13 frank e. campbell funeral chapel in manhattan new york city . 14 westwood village memorial park in westwood los angeles california pierce brothers mortuary in los angeles riverside memorial chapel manhattan new york city . sparkman hillcrest memorial park cemetery in dallas controversies edit costs edit writing in a 24 october 2013 issue of bloomberg businessweek journalist paul m. barrett found despite its lower overhead sci has higher prices than independent funeral home operators . barrett quoted data compiled by a concierge funeral planning service everest funeral package which found that for traditional funerals sci charges 6 256 on average excluding casket and cemetery plot 42 percent more than independents . 15 in reply sci points to overwhelmingly positive responses on customer surveys below market wages paid to staff and management and states they provide top value at a variety of funeral price points . 15 texas edit in the late 1990s sci was involved in a controversy involving alleged violations of texas state embalming laws . the proceedings took a political slant due to robert waltrip s friendship with the family of then governor george w. bush and waltrip s campaign contributions to various members of the bush family . 16 referred to as funeralgate or formaldegate in the media the controversy was widely publicized when eliza may a director with the texas funeral service commission tfsc was fired while investigating sci . may alleged in a civil suit that she was fired because she refused to halt her investigation despite pressure to do so from governor bush . may s lawyers subpoenaed president bush to testify at the trial 17 but texas judge john k. dietz threw out the subpoena on the grounds that the then governor was not in a position to have enough specialized information to require his involvement . 18 the lawsuit was settled in 2001 for more than 200 000 . sci and the state of texas were required to jointly pay the decision . 19 on january 23 2004 the tfsc fined sci an additional 21 000 for administrative penalties . 19 florida edit in 2001 it was reported that employees of the memorial gardens cemetery near ft. lauderdale florida had oversold the cemetery so bodies were buried in the wrong places separating husbands from wives ; vaults were cracked open by a backhoe ; bodies were exhumed with bones skulls and shrouds thrown into nearby woods ; bodies were stacked on top of each other ; and remains were relocated without notifying relatives . the allegations were particularly appalling to the jewish cemetery s more religiously observant customers the miami herald reported . traditional jewish law requires bodies to be buried intact and prohibits disturbing the dead . sci reached a 14 million agreement with the florida attorney general s office in 2003 that required it to repair plots and reorganize the cemeteries to ensure all graves were properly marked and the grounds could accommodate all plots sold . sci also settled a separate class action lawsuit on behalf of 350 families for 100 million . virginia edit on april 26 2007 the washington post reported that an sci cemetery in alexandria virginia had improperly buried the remains of the stillborn daughter of nsombi hale in a grave too shallow in a grave about 8 inches 20 cm deep . nsombi hale was filing suit against sci . 20 after an internal investigation by sci attorneys working for sci denied the charges against the company in a letter to virginia funeral regulators 21 and a few days later the post reported that robert ranghelli one of the sci employees who had corroborated the initial reports of improper handing of corpses was fired for exercising his first amendment rights speaking with the media after having been on administrative leave for several months following the initial reports in the newspaper . 22 on april 5 2009 the washington post reported that the national funeral home a facility owned by sci in the falls church area of fairfax county virginia which also acts as a centralized embalming and dressing station for embalming and body preparation for other nearby sci owned operations arlington funeral home danzansky goldberg memorial chapel and demaine funeral home was storing naked bodies in various stages of decomposition in conditions described as disgusting degrading and humiliating . the story went on to report that as many as 200 bodies were stored on makeshift gurneys in the garage and at least half a dozen veterans destined for the hallowed ground at arlington national cemetery were left in their coffins on a garage rack . the post reported that documentation describing these conditions had been reported to the virginia board of funeral directors and embalmers . 23 a few days later the post reported that family members of a deceased army veteran whose remains were stored in an unrefrigerated garage at national funeral home asked the fairfax county commonwealth s attorney to investigate the actions of national and its parent company sci as crimes . 24 the post further reported that the family of retired u.s. army colonel andrew degraff filed a lawsuit in fairfax county alleging that sci mishandled degraff s remains . according to the article an sci spokesman said that the company is conducting an internal investigation . 25 california edit on september 14 2009 a class action lawsuit was filed against sci and eden memorial park a jewish cemetery managed by sci in mission hills charging that they were destroying graves to make room for new interments . 26 the los angeles times reported that state officials found no evidence of mass grave disturbances . russ heimerich a spokesman for the state department of consumer affairs said we have not seen any evidence of the kind of massive desecration that is being alleged