Ars Moriendi

Death care needs to change

Dying is not logistics.
​It is not a 45-minute slot.
Worn-out music.
Generic eulogies.

​It is a profound human experience.

Yet today’s industry delivers efficiency.
Misses opportunities for meaning and healing.
Leaves families satisfied, but incomplete.
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As fellow humans, we cannot accept this.
As business leaders, we cannot afford it.

Ars Moriendi* is an executive movement for those transforming the future of death care - in life.

* The Art of Dying. 

A moral duty. A commercial reality

Within the next decade, €77 billion in annual funeral spend will shift to a new generation. Gen X – and soon Millennials – will not settle for what their parents received. They want agency, meaning, sustainability, and personalisation.
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Yet for decades, the industry has reassured itself with satisfaction scores of 80–90%. Our research shows these scores hide the truth: families, too overwhelmed and vulnerable to demand more at the time of loss, quietly accept what is offered. Only later do they admit it wasn’t enough – a generic tribute, a poor video, a ceremony that left them with emptiness rather than meaning.

Incremental fixes – a greener coffin, a new app – will not bridge this gap. By the time the discontent is visible in lost trust and falling revenues, it will be too late. Families deserve better goodbyes. And if we don’t create them, others will.

The griever's voice

Gen X comments on funerals in Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US.

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He had such a rich life which got reduced to a bad quality video, a mediocre eulogy and a few songs on a crappy sound system.​

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During the service, I held back my tears. I didn't want to be the only one who was crying.  But honestly, I wanted to scream.

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We couldn't all be at my brother's funeral. But the funeral home didn't know how to do a livestream or VOD solution. I had to arrange it myself.

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With the ceremonial rollercoaster I was so busy talking that I never got a moment to myself. To properly say goodbye.

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You get 2 hours to part with someone you've known your whole life. Everyone is there for the day, and then they all disappear.

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A new way to deal with death

People seek memorable and meaningful farewells:
  • Personalised ceremonies that celebrate life
  • Spaces and rituals for healing and closure
  • Natural, immersive settings
  • Emotional support beyond the funeral day
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This is about more than goodbyes.
We need to make death part of life so:
  • it becomes easier to plan and discuss
  • we learn to embrace the end in peace
  • McFunerals become meaningful rituals
  • grief gets the support it needs
  • remembrance and connection are forever
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We need to move death care
  • FROM: being an efficient, standardised, end-of-life industry.
  • TO: being a partner that infuses life and farewells with meaning and humanity.

The Ars Moriendi movement

No single operator can shift the paradigm alone.
We need to act as an ecosystem: service providers, insurers, suppliers, investors, media partners, regulators, healthcare and more.

This requires more than awareness.
​To move the industry, we need structured funding, coordinated innovation, and ventures that can grow.
We need a movement that acts together – at scale.

Ars Moriendi is that movement.
​And we invite you to join.

How members drive change

While membership comes with privilege, it's driven by a desire to act as a market catalyst for the next era of death care by:

Catalysing high-impact venture opportunities

  • ​Identifying and getting involved ventures to reshape the future of death care.
  • Preferential rights to participate in funding or distribution.

Looking beyond today with quarterly briefings

  • How to provide what today's and tomorrow's customers want.
  • Easy-to-copy death care innovations from around the world.
  • ​Leveraging neuro & behavioural science for meaningful farewells.
  • Applying inspirations and innovations from other industries.

Sharing and introducing new expertise

  • A trusted network to discuss challenges, share knowledge, and explore new approaches.
  • Priority access to global expertise in customer research, experience and proposition design. 

Shaping the movement

  • ​Publicly promoting the Ars Moriendi objectives and values.
  • The opportunity to nominate potential network members.

Who we are

Ars Moriendi is an initiative launched by Tom Wustenberghs, CEO of Pontes, one of Belgium's leading crematorium groups, and Alain Thys, veteran customer-centricity expert and founder of The Transformation Architects.

​By joining forces, they want unite visionary leaders who want to shape the next era of death care—not just in theory, but in real, measurable ways.

An invitation

Ars Moriendi is for those who want to be remembered not just for their balance sheets, but for reshaping one of humanity’s most profound experiences. By joining, you step into the founding circle that defines – and profits from – the next era of death care.

We are assembling the founding coalition now, from organisations including:
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  • ​End-of-life service providers seeking competitive advantage through transformation.
  • Insurers and financial services providers exploring new business models in end-of-life planning.
  • Investors and venture partners looking for high-potential innovations in funeral services and death tech.
  • Technology providers developing the next generation of digital and operational solutions for the industry.
  • Suppliers and service providers offering products, cremation technology, memorial solutions, and operational innovations to the death care sector.
  • Organisations in adjacent sectors, such as palliative care, grief support, end-of-life planning, regulatory bodies, healthcare institutions, and religious organisations, who have a vested interest in the evolution of death care and wish to co-create a more holistic, human-centric future.

Apply for membership

Membership is strictly limited to 60 organisations worldwide.
Ars Moriendi is an invite-only executive movement for those shaping the future of death care.
To confirm you will get maximum value from joining, we suggest a one-on-one conversation to align views and expectations.
Lead the next era of death care. Apply for membership today.
Ars Moriendi is not a conversation club
We are a movement for transformation – a place where change-makers make things happen.
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