Longtime family business changes hands

After 126 years of caring for local families as they put their loved ones to final rest, Meserole Funeral Home on the corner of Wanser and Lord Avenues in Inwood is making the transition to new owners.
Meserole’s current owner, Roy, has managed the funeral home with his mother since 1956, since he returned home from obtaining his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University. His mother, Gene, died in 1990, and Roy has operated it solo since.
Under the new ownership, Martin “Marty” Herman will be the new manager, and the owners will be David Hance and Craig Pio, two Inwood residents and contractors. The home’s name, for the next 18 months of transition, will be Meserole Five Towns Funeral Home, Inc. After that point, Meserole said, the contractors can decide whether or not to keep the name as it is or change it to something else.
“I’m going into my 80th year,” he said. “I’ve been on the job here since Syracuse. I was just helping out at the time. It’s so irregular, the funeral business, and isn’t predictable. Physically, it’s getting difficult for me to do this job. It involves lots of footwork, and it’s tougher for me to do that now.”
There were originally two interested parties in purchasing the home, noted Karen Urio, Meserole’s niece. “There was one other person who wanted to buy, but they were interested in something long-term,” she said. “The owners we chose are interested in the sale as short term. They are also someone our family has known for a long time, and have a lot of respect for them.”

Russell Sage was one noteworthy person cared for by the Meserole Funeral Home. The financier and railroad executive died in Lawrence and was buried in upstate Troy. Sage was worth $90 million at his death in 1906. Locally, his money built the Five Towns Community Center, then known as the Nassau Industry School.
Meserole would like to continue his community involvement, read more, listen to his record collection of classical music, and possibly travel through upstate New York, visiting along the Erie Canal, a longtime interest, during his retirement.
“I didn’t think much about retirement,” he said. “I just took it day by day. This business has been a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week operation with family here. I’m single, never married or had children, and the family doesn’t have an interest in taking over the business.”
Pete Sobol, an Inwood resident and civic leader, knows Meserole as “Mr. Inwood,” someone who has worked alongside him for various civics programs, especially the Inwood 5K, which raises money for student scholarships.
“From the inception, he has been instrumental in making sure programs like the Inwood 5K are successful,” he said. “He’s been a constant in civics in the community for as far back as I can remember. He supports every local organization in the Inwood community.”
During Meserole’s direction of the funeral home, he estimates that he’s served about 100 people per year for 58 years. “It’s been an honor to serve these people and their families,” he said.