Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association

The organization's main objective is to provide necessary support to licensed funeral directors in order to ensure that families are provided a high quality of service across the state. They provide legal expertise, continued education opportunities, and advocacy circuits that represent and support the interests of Pennsylvania funeral professionals. 

In 1882, Joseph Henry Clarke established the Clarke School of Embalming in Cincinnati, Ohio. When funerary services became a profession in the United States. It became necessary to standardize death care in order to ensure proper measures were being followed across the board. By the 1880s, learned professionals were experimenting to find improved methods of preserving bodies. Arterial embalming with newly developed mixtures of embalming chemicals became the most commonly practiced method of bodily preservation in the country.  Today, it typically takes 2 to 4 years to complete a mortuary science degree in the United States. 

• “Education/Licensing: A Career as a Funeral Director.” Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association. https://www.pfda.org/education-licensing.
• “History: About CCMS.” Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. https://www.ccms.edu/about-ccms/history/history/.