In 1900, Lawton L. Pratt established a much needed a funeral home in the African American Community of DeLand, Florida at 234 South Clara Avenue. Mr. Pratt also established another business in Jacksonville, Florida.
In 1932, he hired Arthur J. Mack to run the DeLand office and made him manager during this time. Shortly after the death of Mr. Pratt, Reverend
Arthur J. Mack & Mr. Leo Hines purchased the business from the Pratt family. In 1946, they established the Arthur J. Mack Funeral Home at the same location for more than 25 years. In 1954, Reverend Mack was the sole proprietor and the funeral home also provided ambulance service. In the mid 1950's Charles & Ruth Cusack began working with this establishment and later donated land to build a new funeral home.
On February 14, 1972, the firm was officially opened at 797 South Stone Street, where it now stands. Shortly thereafter, the Cusack's youngest son, James was licensed as a Funeral Director and Embalmer and became a partner following the death of his parents.
During the early 1990's, Reverend Mack took a less active role in the firm, due to failing health and turned over the day-to-day management to James Cusack. On December 19, 1997, Reverend Mack sold the business to James, his wife, Brenda and their son.
Since then, many building improvements have been made, among them, on site refrigeration unit and a conference room was added and financing through several agencies was made available for customers.
