Darien's Only Funeral Home Under New Ownership

DARIEN, CT — Darien's only funeral home and oldest family business has a pair of new owners, who are expanding after decades at a well-known funeral home in Fairfield.

Lawrence Funeral Home in Darien is now under the ownership of Kevin Lesko and Erika Cueto, both of Lesko & Polke Funeral Home in Fairfield. Former Lawrence Funeral Home owner Jed Lawrence will remain involved with his long-time family business on a part-time basis as Lesko and Cueto get to know the community.

"This is all I've ever done since I got out of college and mortuary school in 1973 and went to work for my dad," said Lawrence, who is the fourth member of his family named Edward Lawrence to operate the funeral home since it opened in 1893 in New Canaan.

The business moved to Darien in 1931 and for almost as long has been located in an 1857 Carpenter Gothic building at 2119 Post Road.

"I'm very proud of the family tradition and I think it's going to be carried on to the future just the way it has been the last 127 years," Lawrence said.

Lesko knows a thing or two about family tradition himself. The Lesko family founded a funeral home in 1909 in Bridgeport and relocated to Fairfield in 1992. Lesko merged the business in 2005 with Bridgeport's Polke Funeral Home to create Lesko & Polke. Lesko's Fairfield partner, Frank Polke, is not involved in the Darien purchase, which closed on July 28. Cueto will oversee day-to-day operations at the newly acquired business, which will retain the Lawrence name and staff.

"I'm looking forward to caring for the families of Darien and continuing the tradition that I've learned from Kevin Lesko in Fairfield," said Cueto, a first-generation funeral director who has been with Lesko & Polke for over 20 years.

The new owners hope to improve on an already strong foundation with possible modernizations and enhancements to the facility and grounds in Darien, according to Lesko.

"It's been a longstanding funeral care business that has an excellent reputation," he said.

Lesko and Lawrence know one another from their years in the funeral industry in Fairfield County.

"I feel confident that the caring service is not going to miss a beat with the new ownership," Lawrence said.

And as for Lawrence?

"I think I'm going to be a very busy grandfather," he said.