CEO Julie Snyder has an in depth conversation with Forest Lawn’s Director of Family and Visitor Service about the business of selling cemetery space, the wide variety of burial options available at Forest Lawn, and advice on how families should get started selecting their final resting place.
When choosing a final resting place, the number of choices can come as a surprise. Forest Lawn Cemetery has staff able to draw on specialized knowledge and years of experience to assist families in navigating those decisions.
With multiple factors to consider, families often benefit from exploring options in advance. Director of Family and Visitor Services Josh Fleissner helps guide people through Forest Lawn’s offerings. “Educating families that come into our offices,” is at the core of his work, he says. “Teaching them about what a cemetery has to offer, helping them make their arrangements, whether it’s pre-need or at-need.”
Fleissner and his colleagues also answer general questions, assist with genealogy inquiries and conduct visitors around Forest Lawn. The 269-acre, not-for-profit cemetery’s first burial was in 1850, and people are sometimes surprised to learn that there are plots and niches still available. In fact, Forest Lawn has more than 20 acres of land that are still undeveloped.
Decisions about a resting place may include choosing cremation or burial, deciding between in-ground or above-ground interment and selecting an appropriate memorial, grave marker or monument. Fleissner finds that beginning those conversations early helps.
“It's taking time to evaluate all the different options that we have, seeing what works best for them at the time, even if a decision is not made … it's a starting point,” he says.
About 70 percent of the families served by Forest Lawn make their arrangements in advance. The different interment options cover a wide range of price points.
“It’s not just a place or a space for high-net worth individuals,” says Forest Lawn Cemetery CEO Julie Snyder. “We really work hard to accommodate everybody in the City of Buffalo as well as in the region.”
Forest Lawn is currently laying out new burial plots, including especially tranquil sections in which the graves are book-ended by gardens.
The Legacy Mausoleum, dedicated in June 2026, is the newest choice for above-ground interment. The building has 384 crypts for casketed burial, in addition to 400 niches for cremation urns. The open-air, “garden style” mausoleum is surrounded by trees, flowers and Forest Lawn’s gentle hills, peaceful valleys, lakes and streams.
One highlight of the picturesque landscape is Mirror Lake, located at the heart of Forest Lawn.
“It's a big visitor and tour area,” says Fleissner. “The trees are beautiful in the spring with the cherry blossoms, which is a really popular time for visitors to start coming into the cemetery. And I think what is also really nice is that we're surrounded by a ridge, which you can imagine 175 years ago, with this being just a hilly forest. And now, being a cemetery, it just looks like everything was meant to be.”
For more information about offerings and family services at Forest Lawn, check out the podcast linked at the beginning of this article.
