Foundation Partners Group Honors Doug Manning with the “Lifetime Achievement Award”
Orlando, FL –
Acknowledging an outstanding career of helping improve funeral service, Foundation Partners Group recently surprised Doug Manning with its first “Lifetime Achievement Award” at their first Annual Leadership Conference. “It was only appropriate that at our first annual leadership conference, attended by all key leaders of our young company, that we recognize the commitment, work, insights and perspectives that Doug Manning has brought to our profession over the years. Clearly, Doug has a burning passion for helping the professionals in funeral service help others,” said Steve Shaffer, President and CEO.
Doug, a former minister became interested in writing and the aspects of grief and the funeral process. His first book, “A Minister Speaks About Funerals,” was written to his fellow pastors laying out the concept of having a family meeting while planning a funeral. Even in the early 70’s Manning was a pioneer and forward thinker for our profession. His bestseller “Don’t Take My Grief Away From Me,” in 1979, titled after a young woman who exclaimed those words after she had lost her child. Doug’s interest in the grieving process had begun as he gathered people together to listen to their experiences in the grief journey. Doug and his wife Barbara began selling his books and achieved national recognition and thus, an author was born. He established his publishing company, In‐Sight Books, and began the process of building an audience. Doug started traveling the circuit, speaking for funeral homes, nursing homes, hospices, community support groups, state and national conventions in grief and elder care. Soon, he was writing more books and was recognized nationally as one of the premiere speakers and professionals dealing with issues surrounding life’s transitional journeys.
In the 80’s Doug met Arnold Dodge of the Dodge Chemical Company and they formed a partnership that continues to this day. Arnold was a visionary who understood that even in the chemical business, the future demanded diversification and saw great value for the profession in Doug’s message. Doug has written articles for The Dodge Magazine for the past 20 years, and was invited for speaking tours in New Zealand and Australia.
Doug has continued to write and has authored over 35 books, DVDs, CDs and bereavement cards. He has a blog named “The Care Community,” in which he communicates with individuals in grief or elder care situations around the world.
In 1999, Doug and his daughter Glenda Stansbury began a new training program for Certified Funeral Celebrants. Since that time, together they have trained over 1,500 funeral celebrants from all over the world.
Jim Price, Executive Vice President & COO of Foundation Partners Group stated, “Doug is truly an icon to funeral service and has brought an entire new concept to the movement of personalized funerals. We are grateful to recognize him for his innovative life‐changing approach and contribution to funeral service by presenting him our first “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Foundation Partners Group, LLC, with its home office in Orlando, was established in June of 2010. It currently owns and operates 29 funeral homes and five cemeteries in 12 states, and is actively seeking to acquire premier funeral homes throughout the US.
If you would like to learn more about Foundation Partners Group and how we can hel with your succession planning needs, please contact us.
