This Haitian American funeral director makes Miami families feel seen

When Miramar native Evans St. Fort opened St. Fort's Funeral Home in North Miami Beach in 2003, clients were skeptical of a funeral director still in his 20s. After sitting with him for a consultation, however, they quickly realized that St. Fort had far more experience than his youthful demeanor suggested, since St. Fort had spent his childhood watching his father manage a funeral home in Haiti.
'Clients would come and sit with me and look at me crazy because I was just 24 years old, but I knew what I was doing,' he said. 'They just couldn't believe that they were talking to someone so young.'
Under St. Fort's leadership, the funeral home has become well-known among Miami's Haitian community and has served thousands of families over the past two-plus decades. While small mom-and-pop funeral homes have increasingly become a target for private equity and corporate ownership, St. Fort, now 46, said he has rejected offers to buy his business, preferring to keep the operation family-run. St. Fort's commitment to both the Miami community and to Haiti, where families were offered free funeral services following the 2010 earthquake, was recently recognized by the city of North Miami Beach, which renamed a street 'St. Fort Drive' last weekend.
St. Fort grew up in Miramar and spent his summers with family in Haiti, where his father, Joseph St. Fort, had opened a funeral home in the '90s. He graduated from Miramar High School in 1997 and attended St. Thomas University before pursuing a degree in mortuary studies at Lynn University.
After graduating in 2002, St. Fort had an internship at a funeral home while also working part-time at other funeral homes. Although he was just starting his professional career, he had a strong interest in building his own business and eventually found a vacant building that had previously been used as a funeral home in North Miami Beach that he hoped to purchase.
St. Fort was 25 at the time, but his persistence in negotiating with the owners of the property paid off. He bought the funeral home using money he received after being in a car accident and funding from his parents and set a goal of becoming the best Black-owned funeral home in Miami. One of the first things he did was update the aesthetics of the traditional funeral home.
'When you walk into our funeral home, the way I wanted to set it up was to make it feel like you're in a hotel lobby,' he said. 'We went with high-end fixtures, nice furniture — modern, contemporary, fresh — so that when you're walking in, you're not feeling depressed.'
The facility includes a chapel and reception space and offers cremation services. St. Fort said the business now manages an average of five funerals a week, with him and his team of eight sometimes servicing two funerals at the same time.
He has noticed that more clients in recent years are opting for cremation services, as costs for funerals and grave spaces have risen. In that time, corporate entities have been buying out family-run businesses, and the increasingly pricey Miami real estate market has also had an effect.
'When I first got into the business, you could purchase a space [at a local cemetery] for $2,000,' he said, 'Now, you can't get a space cheaper than $15,000. So the reason I say it's dangerous is because what's happening is they're not giving families options anymore.'
Today, St. Fort estimates that 70% of business comes via word of mouth.
Miami postal worker Carr Alexis, 50, has known St. Fort for years and said he would not have had his late mother's service at any other funeral home. As a Haitian man, there are certain nuances that he only felt comfortable with a Haitian funeral director handling, he said.
'We Haitian people are very dignified,' he said. 'Evans doesn't go about Americanizing [our funerals].'
St. Fort has noticed many things about Haitian funerals that separate them from typical American funerals. For example, the color red is frowned upon and cannot be worn. If a child dies, the parents cannot follow the deceased child into the cemetery. Passing out is common during Haitian funerals, and if one person passes out, others generally follow. Similarly, if one person yells loudly during a funeral, other people will, too.
'Haitians are much more emotional and comfortable with sharing their emotions,' he said.
Despite Alexis' reassurances about St. Fort, he said his relatives from Montreal came to Miami for his mother's funeral with high standards and a skepticism about whether St. Fort would be able to give her the send-off she deserved. But by the end of the services, they agreed he had lived up to their expectations.
'When everything was done, all I saw was hugs and handshakes thrown at Evans,' Alexis said.
Through his work, St. Fort said he has had the opportunity to plan services for the families of some prominent figures in the community, including Haitian musician Wyclef Jean and three-time Miami Heat champion Udonis Haslem.
Having Jean sit in St. Fort's office to plan a family member's funeral was a full-circle moment for the funeral director, who grew up hearing people say negative things about the country from which his family came.
'When I was young, I was afraid to tell people that I was Haitian,' St. Fort said. 'But one day I was watching TV and I was watching a Fugees concert, and I saw Wyclef hold up the Haitian flag. When they blew up, I was like, 'Man, so it's not so bad to be Haitian.''
St. Fort said that while his funeral home has received 'a lot' of offers from prospective buyers, including some north of $5 million, he has declined because selling runs counter to his family's mission.
'When we've been approached, I've talked to my family about it, and the goal was not to build something and sell it but build something for the community and pass it along generations,' he said.
In addition to the North Miami Beach facility, St. Fort in March opened a funeral home in Riverdale Park, Maryland, with a college classmate who has had success in the area, and he has also started a yacht rental business. His passion for serving others, however, is central to the work his father started in Haiti decades ago. He recommends that anyone pursuing a similar career have the same intention in mind.
'Don't initially get into it thinking, 'I'm doing this strictly for money,' because if you go in there thinking that, it's not going to work,' he said. 'You really have to have a place in your heart where you're about serving people.'

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