Max M. Eckerman; Retired Mortuary Owner
Max M. Eckerman, a longtime Burbank mortician and former owner of Eckerman Funeral Service, has died in a hospital in Stockton. He was 90.
A former Burbank resident, Eckerman died Tuesday of complications of his advanced age, according to representatives of Richard Pierce Funeral Service in Napa.
Born in Washington, Iowa, Eckerman worked on a farm in his hometown before coming to California in 1920. He entered the funeral business in 1929 when he went to work at a Pasadena mortuary. In 1943, he and his wife purchased Powell Mortuary Service in Burbank and renamed it Eckerman Funeral Service. Due to ill health, he sold the Burbank business to longtime employee and friend John A. Heisman in 1966, who added his surname to the company title. The mortuary still operates under the name of Eckerman-Heisman Funeral Service. From the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, Eckerman divided his residency between Burbank and Napa, later settling in Northern California.
Eckerman was past president of the Burbank Kiwanis Club, past president of the Burbank YMCA Board of Directors and member of First Presbyterian Church of Burbank, Burbank Masonic Lodge No. 406, Scottish Rite in Los Angeles and the Al Maliakah Temple in Los Angeles.
Eckerman is survived by his wife, Grace Eckerman of Stockton; daughters Maxine Atkins of Stockton and Jeanne Larkin of Menlo Park; stepsons Richard Walper of San Juan Capistrano and Donald Walper of Rogue River, Ore.; brother Wendell Eckerman of Riverside; sister Alice Sparklin of Van Nuys; four grandchildren; seven step-grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; 13 step-great-grandchildren and two step-great-great-grandchildren.
A funeral will be Monday in Napa. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Eckerman-Heisman Funeral Service, 333 E. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. A funeral is planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the mortuary. Private burial will be at Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale.
Contributions can be made in Eckerman’s name to a charity of the donor’s choice.
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