Meet David Jacobson of Chicago Jewish Funerals in Skokie and Buffalo Grove

Today we’d like to introduce you to David Jacobson.

David, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I came from a funeral home family in upstate New York. I was exposed, by example, to an environment of assisting others and serving others within a community. I went to Xavier University and Cincinnati College of Morturary Science. I was planning to continue on with an MBA, but I ran out money. I got a job at Piser Weinstein Menorah Chapels in Chicago. I started as an intern. Piser was family owned at that time and several of the older members of that staff as owners, as well as some others I met through those owners have served as my mentors and assisted me personally and also in truly understanding daily operations within a business. After a few years, I decided to get an MBA. So I was working six days a week and going to school at nights. 33.5 months later I received my MBA.

Ultimately I became a Managing Partner at Piser. In the 90’s Piser “sold” to a huge corporate owned and publicly traded aggregating and consolidating company. The feeling of working within a family business was gone. I felt that my efforts of serving families would necessarily have to change to that of serving the corporation, in order to survive. I knew I loved serving families. I also knew that I could not continue to conduct myself solely for the financial gain of a faceless corporation. It was during this personal employment crisis I decided to found Chicago Jewish Funerals. I did not begin my company with dreams of making fantastic sums of money. I began my company with the concept of providing the highest level of service to all who call upon me and to provide dignified (primarily) Jewish funeral services for the deceased, regardless of their circumstances. It’s all about the passion to serve!!!!

Has it been a smooth road?
It has been anything but smooth. I was always struggling being underfunded and not having enough resources to achieve the vision. Let alone having deaths in my own family. Trying to keep my family afloat whilst working all the time. Keep in mind I am trying to create an experience for the families that call us dealing with the TEAMSTERS Union, finding or creating a great staff, trying to find Jewish People to work as well. There is a huge shortage of Jewish Funeral Directors all over the USA. In building the new Skokie Chapel there were zoning issues. I have the ability to work long hours for a very long time. The passion to create and serve has never wavered.

I began my company 20 years ago with little more than an idea, a sturdy moral compass and just a few employees. I have been fortunate to have served more and more families each year and my company has grown and even expanded. Aside from the normal terror that most entrepreneurs experience having exposed one’s family to financial ruin while chasing a dream and building a business. The greatest challenge that I have had and still have, is time. My company responds 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we respond in person in order to assist those who we are privileged to have calling us. I myself and all of the members of my staff have missed significant events in our personal lives in order to serve those that call upon us. I don’t believe anyone could decide to be in funeral service purely for the money, one must derive satisfaction in helping others or you just will not last. To this day I routinely respond 24 hours a day.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Chicago Jewish Funerals story. Tell us more about the business.
Chicago Jewish Funerals is the only independently owned, Jewish owned funeral home with two locations in Chicagoland. We provide the highest level of service to those who call upon us while assisting in (primarily) Jewish funerals. We are known for always saying “yes” and we are known for being available 24 hours a day. Every staff member that responds to those who call upon us is a licensed funeral director and my employee. Our staff will offer to make complete funeral arrangements at any location and at any time of the day or night. We do everything “in house” and with our own staff – The Way it should be! I am most proud of my staff and of our company reputation throughout Chicagoland. I am immensely proud of our collaborative staff and that my vision of serving others has created an opportunity where over 20 staff members are able to support their own families, by working hard and following me on my dream. I love the fact that as a team we are attempting to make the world a better place!!!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
It’s irrelevant to me where the industry will be in the future. Obviously there will be changes as there have been in the past. What I do know is that providing the highest level of service to others will always resonate with sufficient numbers of people to grow my company. I have no interest, nor the capacity to concern myself with, giant funeral corporation advertising blitzes or the latest storefront operation that “competes” purely on price. Our level of service is now and will always be the best it can be. We are constantly striving to make improvements and learn. My staff provides the highest level of service to each and every family that calls us, and also to the deceased. Whether the deceased is a prominent member of the community, or an indigent person without any resources or even a family, is irrelevant with respect to the level of service we will provide. My personal response and the response of all of my staff will remain the same – serve the family and care for the deceased. We do have a reasonable advertising campaign but we have grown, primarily, because what we provide resonates with those we have served. In kind, we are fortunate that both families we have served and clergy we interact with suggest to those in need of funeral services, that they should call Chicago Jewish Funerals.

At the end of the day….as in every industry, when one loses the ability to listen to what the “customer” needs and wants, the business will eventually implode. A comment that Michael Quinlan once said about McDonalds… “When you are green you grow, when you are ripe you rot”. I hope to never ripen.

Contact Info:

• Address: 8851 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, IL 60077
  195 N. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
• Website: www.chicagojewishfunerals.com
• Phone: 847.229.8822
• Email: david@chicagojewishfunerals.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/chicagojewishfunerals
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chicago-jewish-funerals-skokie, https://www.yelp.com/biz/chicago-jewish-funerals-buffalo-grove-3

 

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