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Ashes
to ahses, dust to DNA?
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It’s
not uncommon for family members to keep their loved
one’s ashes in a special urn above the mantel as
a way to keep memories close to them. But a Roanoke
Valley funeral home is taking that notion into the 21st
century by offering not just your loved one’s ashes,
but displays of their DNA as well.
Tony
Wright, general manager of the Lotz and Rader Funeral
Homes in the Roanoke Valley, is a visionary in his field.
His funeral homes were the first — and so far only
— ones in Virginia to offer the new DNA display.
The technique for the unusual display was patented by
Paul LoGerfo, co-director of the New York Thyroid Center
at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. LoGerfo was
able to develop a solution that makes DNA visible without
dissolving. He then began making sculptures out of the
DNA samples floating in the solution.
Since
this spring, the commercial by-product of his invention,
LifeForms DNA, has been offered by Pittsfield, Mass.-based
Galaxy Log LLC in more than 20 funeral homes across
the nation. In August, the Roanoke area’s Lotz
and Rader funeral homes began offering the displays,
which range in price from $200 to $1,000. “We’re
trying to be a leader,” Wright says. “One
of the things in this industry, especially with baby
boomers coming of age, is personalization. Most funeral
homes who are progressive at all are doing personalization
items” such as memory boards and such. Wright says
that the DNA display is one of those personalized items,
although he understands it’s not for everybody.
So
far the LifeForms DNA Display is available in eight
formats, ranging from the “Box of Life,” which
is a simple cherry wood box, to a stained glass box
with a mirrored floor. A small tissue sample is taken
during the embalmment process and then shipped off to
the Pittsfield lab. “The DNA is first isolated,
then we precipitate the DNA through a series of chemical
processes,” explains Richard Asinof, creative director
of Galaxy Log. Each display is sent back to the funeral
home with a certificate of authentication.
One
question that’s sure to arise when talking about
DNA displays is, well, just how functional are the DNA
strains? “It’s fully functional DNA,”
Asinof says, but points out, “We are selling it
as a display. In fact, the lab will only ship the vials
of DNA in one of the eight display cases. And while
Wright concurs that the DNA could theoretically be used
for scientific purposes, “that’s not what
it’s all about,” he says. “Our goal is
strictly for a memory purpose. We’re not trying
to recreate people, we’re just trying to preserve
their memory.”
—
Leila Marija Ugincius
Return to Virginia Business - October
2002
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