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Shop window of a funeral director in France

A funeral director (also known as a mortician or undertaker) is someone involved in the business of funeral rites. The job often entails the burial or cremation of the dead, as well as the planning and arrangement of the actual funeral ceremony.

In the United Kingdom, a funeral director is someone who directs the funeral, a mortician is someone who works in a mortuary, and an undertaker normally refers in modern times to the person who actually does the carrying (vehicularly or by hand) of the deceased. However, the word "undertaker" in the UK was the name given to members of other professions, e.g. cabinet makers or carpenters, who had the tools and skills to make coffins or caskets, and who therefore were able to "undertake" funerals as a part of their work. In modern times the term "undertaker" is seen as old-fashioned within the "Funeral Service", but is still the most commonly used term by many people.

Funeral directors are responsible for meeting with the family of the deceased to make arrangements for the funeral service. The director is also responsible for preparing the deceased for the service by means of embalming, dressing and casketing, and applying cosmetics. However, not all funeral directors are embalmers and vice versa. Many jurisdictions require separate licenses for funeral direction and embalming.

In the UK many funeral directors belong to one of four professional organisations, the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD), the British Institute of Funeral Directors (BIFD), the Society of Allied Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) or National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). The principal United States professional organisation in the field is the National Funeral Directors Association. The American Board of Funeral Service Education provides accreditation to postsecondary educational institutions offering programs in mortuary science or funeral services.

In the US, the individual states each have their own licensing regulations for funeral directors. Most require a combination of postsecondary education (typically an associate's degree), passage of a National Board Examination[1], and one to two years' work as an apprentice.^[1]

Employment opportunities for funeral directors are expected to be good, particularly for those who also embalm. However, mortuary science graduates may have to relocate to find jobs. ^[2]

Amerigo Bonsera, in Mario Puzo's The Godfather is an undertaker.

• Funeral home

In the UK the use coffins not caskets, a coffin is the anthropodal shape ( aka toe pincher) the in US caskets have long been in use as the standard.

1. ^ American Board of Funeral Service Education, Frequently Asked Questions
2. ^ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, Funeral Directors (accessed July 23, 2007)

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