Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science has announced that distinguished educator Todd Van Beck will be joining the faculty as director of professional education. Van Beck brings with him decades of experience as both a practitioner and educator in the deathcare profession, including a stint at CCMS in the 1980s. Most recently, he served as director of continuing education at John A. Gupton College.

In addition to his other achievements, Van Beck is a prolific writer who has published dozens of books and manuals, along with more than 300 articles throughout his career, with many of his books chronicling funeral service history. CCMS President Jack E. Lechner Jr. has called Van Beck “the pre-eminent historian of the deathcare profession.”

Van Beck has also spent a great deal of time volunteering for various organizations and has served on many boards, including Children’s Hospice Foundation of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Free Store Food Bank in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is currently chairman the Front Porch: Center for Grieving Children Board of Directors and a board member of the International Cemetery, Cremation & Funeral Association Educational Foundation. Van Beck has also lectured internationally, addressing deathcare professionals in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Germany.

“We are honored and thrilled to be welcoming Todd back to CCMS,” said Lechner. “It feels like a homecoming. He is an incredibly valuable addition to our college.”

“It is both nostalgic and humbling to be returning to the old and venerable Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science,” said Van Beck. “My intention is to make a worthy contribution to further enhance the excellence, innovation and creativity in the mission of funeral service education, which has been the noble heritage of CCMS since its founding in 1882. It is my honor to be once again a part of the CCMS culture.” ccms.org