Kane-Jerrett Funeral Homes

Convenient, welcoming location

With a large, open-concept facility, Jerrett Life Celebration Centre hosts events of every size and style. We are easily accessible, just south of the 407 and on the VIVA bus route direct from the TTC Finch station. The central location on Yonge Street has plenty of parking. 

Our staff speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Our funeral directors are knowledgeable and practiced in funeral rites from a diverse range of religious and cultural backgrounds. We specialize in international shipping arrangements and have many years of experience in helping families repatriate loved ones.

Personalized funeral services

We believe that every person is unique and that every service should be too. We work with you and your family to create an unforgettable memorial. Start with a story. We'll take it from there.

Over the years, we've conducted funerals and memorials for many Toronto and York Region police officers and public servants. It is our honour to care for those who guide and protect us. We are also certified by the Green Burial Council and provide options that reflect the values of the eco-conscious.

Cremation services

We specialize in cremation services that honor loved ones in personalized ways, and families love our transparent pricing. With expertise in scattering ashes and a friendly team who pays attention to every detail, we provide service that is second to none.

More and more people are choosing cremation over traditional burial, but most aren’t familiar with the many options:

• a cremation without a funeral or memorial service of any kind.
• a funeral with your loved one present, followed by cremation.
• a cremation followed by a scattering, cemetery memorialization or celebration of life—or all three.

For those who wish for a more momentous memorial, Neptune Memorial Reef is an underwater cremation garden off the coast of Florida. A Celestis Memorial Spaceflight takes ashes into space for a little while or forever.

There are many options for cremation—and they're not all equal. Here's what you can expect when you choose us for your loved one's cremation:

• Custody of care guaranteed. Our custody-of-care program helps safeguard the identification of your loved one from the time we bring them into our care until the time we return them to your family. We check, cross-check and check again, every step of the way.
• Exclusive custody of your loved one. We use only crematories owned and operated by Dignity Memorial^® providers or trusted partners. Once your loved one is in our custody or that of a trusted partner, they’re in our care until they’re returned to your family.
• Licensed, certified, conscientious staff. All Dignity Memorial crematory operators are licensed and certified by Cremation Association of North America, or CANA. Only one person at a time is cremated, and the cremation chamber is thoroughly cleaned before the next person is cremated.

Read more about our cremation services.

History

The story of Kane-Jerrett Funeral Homes encompasses two dedicated families who spent decades building fine reputations for caring for grieving families in Toronto. It dates back to the mid-1930s and continues today under the Dignity Memorial name.

The Jerrett family

Jack Jerrett dreamed of a career that would allow him to serve people in a meaningful way; he wanted to be a funeral director. At age 18, Jack began an apprenticeship with Speers Funeral Home on Dundas Street. There, he received his funeral director’s license. At 23, he became one of the youngest funeral directors to purchase his own funeral chapel. With the help of friends and family members, including his future wife, Jack bought the former Nash Funeral Home at 1141 St. Clair Ave. W. in Toronto in 1937.

Although the funeral chapel was part of Jack's dream, the early growth and success of the business was very much a family effort. Jack's parents, John and Alice, sold their home and trucking business in order to join him in funeral service. Frances Pauline Fritz joined the firm after she and Jack got married in 1939. She was among the first group of licensed female funeral directors in Canada; she got her license in 1942.

The business prospered, and in 1954, Jack purchased the former Bennett Funeral Home at 4661 Yonge St. in North York, then known as Lansing. In 1965, he opened the Scarborough Chapel at 660 Kennedy Road, on the site of a former mushroom plantation.

In 1967, tragedy struck. Jack died when he crashed his plane while trying to land at the Toronto International Airport. His death came only a year after his father died and less than a year before his mother’s death. Long-time employee Bill Stephenson helped sustain the business through this difficult time, and Jack's son, John, subsequently joined the business full time in 1968.

The operation continued to do well, and in the fall of 1993, the new North York Chapel at 6191 Yonge St. was opened to replace the building in Willowdale and to better accommodate the needs of the diverse and growing Toronto community.

In 1999, the Jerrett funeral homes, including Jerrett Life Celebration Centre, which opened in 1996 as York Family Funeral Centre, joined the Dignity Memorial family.

The Kane family

Meanwhile, another family was working to establish themselves as a funeral provider in the Toronto area.

In 1950, Robert Kane and his wife, Gwendolyn, acquired a funeral home only a few blocks away from Jack’s first location. Robert was a funeral director, and Gwendolyn was a nurse. They called their business R.S. Kane Funeral Home, and the newly married couple settled in with Robert’s parents in the house at the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Sheppard Avenue.

As they grew into funeral service, they also began growing their family. Soon, three generations of Kanes occupied the home, as was the tradition of funeral businesses at the time. In 1953, the Kanes started an ambulance service. The community depended upon them in the hardest of times, and they were beloved in the community.

The Kane family lived at their funeral home from 1950 to 1963, when they moved out and renovated the location to better serve families who’d lost loved ones. The couple also added two more children to their own family, for a total of seven.

John Kane is the oldest of the siblings. He loved growing up around his parents’ business and began working there in high school. Eventually, he became a funeral director with a passion for caring for families and reputation for serving others as if they were his own family. He worked hard alongside his parents, always innovating and upholding a standard of excellence.

When Robert passed away in 2000, John took over. He owned and operated R.S. Kane Funeral Home for another two decades. In 2019, R.S. Kane Funeral Home became part of the Dignity Memorial family and Kane-Jerrett Funeral Homes was born.

The funeral home that once stood at 6150 Yonge Street is no longer, but just 3 kilometers north, in Thornhill, Kane-Jerrett is serving families with compassion and attention to detail.

John can still be found at the funeral home at 8088 Yonge St. His brother, Martin, is also there. They’re part of a team who continues to build on the business Robert and Gwendolyn started more than 70 years ago. They’re upholding the legacy of Jack and Frances, too.