SARASOTA, FLORIDA – January 16, 2008 – Jason Rew, former Wall Street mortgage trader with Goldman, Sachs & Company, felt the market peaking, and decided to apply his experiences to a bold, new venture in deathcare, founding GREAT BURIAL REEF, Inc.

Explaining his decision to leave New York, Rew said, “One of the most important lessons I learned on Wall Street is that timing is everything. While I am distinctly proud to have spent four amazing years with one of the most formidable financial firms in the world, it just felt like the right time to strike out on my own and pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur. GREAT BURIAL REEF, Inc. builds living ocean reefs and, for those who choose cremation, honors loved ones by placing their sealed urns within the reef structures.”

Rew returned to his childhood home in Sarasota, Florida, to breathe life into a unique idea he had formed in early 2000 to revolutionize the deathcare industry. For the past nine months, Rew has strategically gathered his team and placed his vision into full operation. In the past few months, GREAT BURIAL REEF, Inc. has been quietly introduced to the national deathcare community, and in recent days, to consumers and to the media nationwide.

 

Its charter reef, Silvertooth Memorial Reef, is located 1.8 miles west of Sarasota, Florida, and will eventually be home to hundreds of individual memorials. The Reef Memorials, which are five feet wide and four feet tall, weigh 2,500 pounds each, and are cast from 100% natural concrete, and are carefully deployed to the ocean floor in groups. Each Reef Memorial is designed to hold the remains of two individuals.

“From a humanitarian point of view, founding this company has given me the extraordinary opportunity to share in what to many is a very private and emotional event. As a lifelong environmentalist, I’m pleased to have a tangible way to leave a lasting contribution to the planet through ocean reef revitalization and land conservation,” Rew said.

Those interested in learning about GREAT BURIAL REEF may consult the company’s website, www.greatburialreef.com, which has service details, pricing, and contact information. Families may also consult their local funeral director for a referral.

“Our hope is to guide families towards alternatives to traditional land burial,” Rew said. “We believe that our offering, brought to life in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is ‘the most peaceful resting place on Earth.’”

GREAT BURIAL REEF, Inc. combines the traditions of burial at sea with environmentally-inspired technology, building living ocean reefs and, for those who choose cremation, honors loved ones by placing their sealed urns within the reef structure.

 

Contact:
Andrew Whitaker, MBA, CMQOE
Vice President
GREAT BURIAL REEF, Inc.
Phone (941) 750-0617    
Fax (941) 237-5800
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www.greatburialreef.com

 

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