Official website of the Ohio Embalmers Association
Meet the Speakers
Robert G. Mayer, CFSP, FBIE has been involved in funeral service for the past 50 years. A graduate of Youngstown University with a B.A. in Biology ; and a diploma from the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science (1963). In 1992 the Institute awarded him an Honorary Doctorate degree in Professional Studies.
He is licensed as an embalmer and funeral director in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Since 1968 he has provided embalming services for funeral homes in the greater Pittsburgh area as the owner of a trade embalming service. He continues in that work today.
From 1967 to 1982 Mayer was a full-time instructor and clinical instructor at the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. Since 1982 he has remained an adjunct member of the faculty. Subjects taught included: Restorative Art, Embalming; Mortuary Cosmetology ; Mortuary and State Law.
He has written numerous articles for funeral service publications and is the primary author/editor of the textbook, Embalming: History, Theory and Practice. First published in 1990, McGraw-Hill of New York City issued the 4th edition in 2006. Mortuary schools in the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain , Ireland, France, Germany, Korea and Japan use the book. The book is a publication of the American Board of Funeral Service Education.
Since 1972 Mr. Mayer has conducted well over 200 embalming demonstrations, seminars and workshops in over 35 states and Great Britain and Ireland. For five consecutive years he was a presenter, by request, at NFDA national conventions. He has served as a consultant for numerous funeral service organizations and the embalming curriculum committee of the American Board of Funeral Service Education.
Professional memberships include Ohio Embalmers Association , Michigan
Embalmers Society, National Funeral Directors Association, Allegheny
County Funeral Directors Association , Academy of Professional Funeral
Service Practitioners , North American Division of the British
Institute of Embalmers., he is one of four U.S. embalmers to be
recognized as a “Fellow” with the British Institute
of Embalmers. Mayer was a co-founder along with Melissa
Johnson-Williams of the American Society of Embalmers in 2004. He
served as charter president and serves as a permanent member of their
board of directors. In 2009 he was given a Resolution for Lifetime
Achievement by the NFDA and presented a Lifetime Membership in the
Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association – one of only 27 given
over the 114 year history of the ACFDA.
Keith J. Hughes, PhD is
an Associate Professor of Life Sciences at the Christ College of
Nursing and Adjunct Instructor of Microbiology and Pathology at CCMS.
He earned his BS in Biology at Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX an MS in Biology from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX and
his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Louisiana State University
Medical Center, Shreveport, LA. His professional career extends well
over a decade and includes research in various aspects of Microbiology.
Joseph S. Main
has been involved in funeral service since 1986. Joe holds an Ohio
funeral director and embalmer license. He has served as the clinical
supervisor at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science (CCMS) since
1990. He now teaches at CCMS in the areas of embalming theory,
restorative art, clinical labs, advance funeral planning, finance and
pricing, and contemporary funeral practices.
A native of Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Joe earned his Bachelor of Mortuary
Science degree from CCMS and attained his Master of Public
Administration from Northern Kentucky University.
Joe is a member of the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practitioners, Ohio Funeral Directors Association, Ohio Embalmers Association, DMORT and currently serves on the policy board of the Ohio Funeral Directors Mortuary Response Team. Joe is also a sales rep for the Frigid Fluid Co. serving southern Ohio and Kentucky.
Joe is married to his wife Chris and they have two girls and reside in West Chester, Ohio.
Edward P. Babcock
is the store manager of Murray's Tool Rental Columbus Ohio (The
business was founded by his wife's grandfather Harry Murray) and is a
trade embalmer, embalming more than 100 bodies per year for the last
six years.
Ed is a graduate of Columbus Alternative High School Columbus Ohio,
Franklin University Columbus Ohio with a Bachelor of Science in
Business Management and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, Cincinnati
College of Mortuary Science, Cincinnati Ohio with a Associates of
Applied Science, Mortuary Science. Ed is a Licensed Funeral
Director and Embalmer in the State of Ohio.
Ed is a policy board member of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association
Mortuary Response Team (OFDA-MRT) , Former member Disaster Mortuary
Operational Response Team (DMORT) region V (five), and the DMORT
Disaster Portable Morgue Unit (DPMU) until the team was eliminated in
2009. He currently is a Funeral Director for the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS), National Disaster Medical System (NDMS),
Logistics Response Assistance Team (LRAT) doing Logistics for both
Disaster Medical Assistance Teams (DMAT) and DMORT missions.
Ed deployed to Lake Charles Louisiana with the DMORT-DPMU team for
Hurricane Ike and most recently deployed twice to Port-au-Prince, Haiti
with the LRAT team on one Medical Mission and one Mortuary Mission.
Ed has been married 15 years to his wife Wendy and has two sons Colin
12 and Jared 10.
Poul H. Lemasters’ professional career covers both funeral service and law. He attended Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, graduating in 1996, and also went on to attend Northern Kentucky University, Chase College of Law, graduating in 2003.
He has worked in the funeral industry for over 15 years and holds a funeral director’s license and embalmer’s license in Ohio and West Virginia. Poul’s funeral home work experience includes managing both small and large funeral homes; and working with both independent and corporate owned funeral homes. He is actively involved in local, state, and national funeral associations.
As an attorney, Poul is admitted to practice law in both Ohio and Kentucky. His law practice began in the area of civil defense work and includes serving as corporate counsel for Alderwoods during 2005-2006. As its corporate counsel, he advised on funeral home, cemetery, crematory, and insurance issues.
Poul now operates a consulting business, Lemasters Consulting, specifically for the funeral industry. He works with funeral home owners, funeral directors/embalmers, cemeteries, and crematory owners and operators. He assists in areas of legal, compliance, regulatory, and business solutions. Examples include: next of kin disputes, cremation authorization issues, State & Federal Compliances, and preparing and reviewing regulatory forms - just to name few.