“We’re proud to carry on and further the legacy of a treasured St. Louis institution,” Randy Sanderson said of the newly formed GWC Legacy, LLC. The company recently purchased Wade Funeral Home from the now-defunct Perpetua Holdings, Inc. out of Illinois.
Sanderson and his Dallas-based business partner, Melvin Bryant, started the company in February 2013. Their primary intention was to buy the funeral home and return it to local ownership after 15 years.
“My family has always used Wade,” Sanderson said. “It feels fantastic to return it to local ownership.”
The purchase comes just in time for the home’s 100th birthday. “One hundred years strong, the Wade Funeral Home and Florist will stay true to the mission of giving superior care and service to all families,” he said.
Wade provides on-site grief counselors, ministerial staff, themed funeral services, personalization specialists, pre-planning services and on-line obituaries at no additional cost. It also has an interactive website and video tributes for deceased loved ones.
Located at 4828 Natural Bridge Ave., Wade is the largest black-owned funeral home in the city of St. Louis, Sanderson said. Started by Walter Wade in 1914, it initially served as one of the only funeral homes in the area that catered to African-American families.
After Wade’s death, the home was operated by his wife Mary. It was then purchased in the 1940s and run until 1999 by their nephew Gilbert Wade Granberry, a local banking CEO. Granberry became a legendary figure in the funeral industry who trained many of the current funeral home operators across St. Louis.
In honor of his legacy, Sanderson and Bryant decided to name their company with Granberry’s initials, GWG Legacy, LLC. Sanderson said he and Bryant will make sure to maintain the standards of quality set by the home’s previous owners.
“The key to our success has always been offering superb personalized service to families,” he said.
As CPAs with extensive knowledge of accounting and finance, both Sanderson and Bryant are excited to own Wade after managing it for the past eight years under Perpetua Holdings. Now that they are sole owners of the funeral home and floral design business, they hope to continue Wade’s century-long legacy.
A Beaumont High School graduate and alumnus of the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL), Sanderson said his life continues to be played out on one particular street.
“The fact that I now own this institution is kind of interesting, because Beaumont is located on Natural Bridge, UMSL is located on Natural Bridge and now Wade is located on Natural Bridge,” he said. “So it’s something about Natural Bridge.”
For more information or to book services, call 314-385-4800
or visit www.wadefuneralhome.com and www.wadeflorist.net .
