The Frank E. Campbell funeral home is offering an inside look at its famed operations, which have been veiled in secrecy for decades.
Located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Campbell has been the go-to mortuary for public figures and celebrities for over 100 years, according to The New York Times.
The list of names goes on and on, but includes John Lennon, Ivana Trump, Judy Garland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Heath Ledger and the Notorious BIG.
The business was started by trailblazer Frank Ellis Campbell, who opened his first parlor in 1898 on West 23rd Street, per the newspaper. Over the next two-and-a-half decades he became a well-renowned mortician.
William Villanova, who has been the president of Frank E. Campbell since 2018, told the Times that “privacy is our standard,” but that doesn’t stop people from trying to get a sneak peak at what goes on.
“We’ve seen them hiding inside cars, behind cars, behind trees. Anything to get a glimpse,” said Villanova, 54.
In addition to a number of viewing suits, loved ones can also be embalmed at the facility — but that area was off-limits to the Times.
Portrait of British musician John Lennon, who died in 1980.
Rowland Scherman/Getty
Although Villanova declined to go into specifics, he told the Timesgdya that their services can range from $10,000 to $50,000, but that beyond that, “there can be no end in sight.”
“Money is what someone pays,” he remarked. “Our business is based on value.”
Although the funeral home has made a name for itself in part because of the discretion it guarantees, there was one story Villanova was willing to share about Garland’s funeral.
“A woman who visited Campbell recently told me a story about the Judy Garland funeral I’d never heard before,” he told the newspaper. “She said her father lived in one of the townhouses next door, and on that day, he opened his windows and sat at his piano to play ‘Over the Rainbow’ to the crowds.”
“I think it was perfect,” he added. “Because he was helping them grieve.”
Ivana Trump attends Dennis Basso Front Row & Backstage Spring 2016 New York Fashion Week: The Shows at The Arc, Skylight at Moynihan Station on September 15, 2015 in New York City.
Desiree Navarro/WireImage
One thing is for certain, no matter their reputation Villanova said that at Cambell, “we do not judge the dead.”
“Are we aware of what is happening with certain clients outside in the media? Of course we are,” Villanova said. “But everyone is entitled to grieve and mourn.”
