Funeral homes in Hornell, Canisteo, Angelica are under new ownership. What we know.

Chris Potter, Hornell Evening Tribune
·2 min read

A local funeral home business with a presence in Hornell, Canisteo and Angelica across Steuben and Allegany counties has new ownership, but visitors are unlikely to notice major changes.

Brown & Powers Funeral Homes has been acquired by Milestone Funeral Services of New York, which touts a “decentralized approach” to its acquisitions. Funeral directors Chet Gosper and Jerry Brown will continue to direct day-to-day operations at the Brown & Powers Funeral Homes, said Gosper.

Milestone CEO and co-founder Michael Martel said Brown & Powers was a “cultural fit” for the growing business.

“We're a financial partner so we want to work with funeral directors who are focused on community and have a great service reputation. We want them to continue doing that,” said Martel. “We support them and help them build on that. Chet and his team do an amazing job. It was a great cultural fit for myself and our other partners. That's one of the first things we look at when we work with someone.”

The Brown and Powers Funeral Home at 354 Canisteo St. in the City of Hornell. The business, with locations in Hornell, Canisteo and Angelica, has been acquired by Milestone Funeral Services.
The Brown and Powers Funeral Home at 354 Canisteo St. in the City of Hornell. The business, with locations in Hornell, Canisteo and Angelica, has been acquired by Milestone Funeral Services.

Jerry Brown founded the Brown Funeral Home in his hometown of Canisteo in 1963. Acquisitions and mergers of the Bender Funeral Home and the Landon-Beaver Funeral Home of Hornell followed in the early 1980s, with the former Robertson Funeral Home later joining the fold.

Gosper joined the team at Brown & Powers in 1997 and the business added a presence in his hometown of Angelica. Gosper stressed there will be “no changes” in how the funeral homes operate under the Milestone umbrella.

Martel agreed.

“When someone is running a good business in our profession, it is about the service and caring for families on the worst day of their lives,” he said. “It would make no sense for us to make any changes. It's a personality driven business.”

Today, Brown & Powers operates funeral homes at 354 Canisteo St. in Hornell, 6 Spruce St. in Canisteo, and 101 West Ave. in Angelica. County records show the properties were purchased for a total of $705,000 on Oct. 30.

The Brown and Powers Funeral Home at 354 Canisteo St. in the City of Hornell. The business, with locations in Hornell, Canisteo and Angelica, has been acquired by Milestone Funeral Services.
The Brown and Powers Funeral Home at 354 Canisteo St. in the City of Hornell. The business, with locations in Hornell, Canisteo and Angelica, has been acquired by Milestone Funeral Services.

Milestone Funeral Partners is based in Maine and operates in the Northeast. The company was founded in 2021 by Martel and Timothy Smart, who have worked in the funeral business since the early 1990s.

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Brown & Powers marks its first entry into the Southern Tier market. Previously its closest operation was in Orchard Park, outside Buffalo.

“We're Northeast funeral directors and that's where we intend to be and grow our firm,” said Martel. “We've been blessed to meet people like Chet and others interested in becoming part of what we're building. We like all of Upstate New York, the Southern Tier, New England, Pennsylvania.

"Assuming there's a cultural fit, we'd be thrilled to partner with someone else in the area.”

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Brown & Powers Funeral Homes in Hornell, Canisteo, Angelica sold