ROBERT CHARLES ADKINS

ROBERT CHARLES ADKINS of Jacksonville, FL died April 4, 2014 at the age of 83. He was a licensed funeral director and manager of a funeral home in Folkston that he co-owned with his father for twenty-two years. After selling the funeral business, he began working as a management consultant in Jacksonville for American Society of Funeral Directors, which he purchased in 1982. He sold the firm and merged it with Southern Funeral Directors Service, where he continued as a management consultant until 2010.
A cum laude graduate from the Gupton-Jones College of Mortuary Science, in 1955, he was one of the founders and became the fourth president of the Academy of Graduate Embalmers in Georgia. He became the recipient of its first President's Award in 1986 for service to the organization and his profession and received the award again in 2004. In 1957, he received a full scholarship and graduated from the National Foundation of Funeral Service School of Management in Chicago, IL.
He was a member of the Georgia Funeral Directors Association, Florida Funeral Directors Association, South Carolina Funeral Directors Association, North Carolina Funeral Directors Association, and the Association of Independent Funeral Directors of Florida, which honored him in 2000 by making him the first recipient of the W. Clyde Lankford Distinguished Service Award. He was also a member of the National Funeral Directors Association and honored as a member of its Heritage Club.
He authored numerous articles on funeral business management which were published in various professional trade journals and periodicals. He was a noted speaker and lecturer at national and international professional seminars.