Anthony J. Quahliero Jr., co-founder of Keystone Funeral Services (KFS), is now the funeral director at Terry A. Cunningham Funeral Home (Bessemer). Terry Cunningham worked with Quahliero Jr. on transition planning and officially sold the business to KFS late last year upon his retirement. The hand-off makes the funeral home the flagship location for KFS, which is pursuing other hyper-local transactions.

A native of Lawrence County, Quahliero Jr. joins the funeral home with more than 45 years of funeral experience, including 15 years as funeral director at Kirila Funeral Home in nearby Struthers, Ohio. A former president of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association, he’s worked in all facets of funeral service.

The funeral home’s name won’t change, but KFS will institute some changes. Soon, families will be able to connect digitally with their services, including online obituaries sharable to social media pages and user-friendly educational content, such as how to explain death to a child.

“It has been my honor to help comfort the people of this community during their most difficult days,” said Cunningham. “I have known Anthony for decades. He is among the most dedicated, compassionate and experienced funeral professionals in the region. Handing over this legacy to Anthony, along with the next-gen insights from his son, feels right because there is no one I trust more to care for our family, friends and neighbors.”

Quahliero Jr. and his son, A.J. Quahliero III, founded KFS in 2020. The latter is a Carnegie Mellon University graduate of the Heinz School of Public Management and has more than 10 years of operational experience working with Fortune 100 companies.

Said Quahliero III: “The pandemic shone a light on a glaring need my dad and I saw years ago – families deserve time-honored funeral services that also embrace the outdoors and modern technology, and actually give people options for how they will best find a sense of peace, comfort and healing during a very difficult time.” keystonefuneralservice.com