🏀 NCAA Champion to Death Care CEO | Donnell Beverly, Jr. (Russel Westbrook Enterprises, Eazewell)

In the latest episode of the Direct Cremation Podcast, Tyler Yamasaki sits down with Donnell Beverly Jr., a former national champion, president of Russell Westbrook Enterprises, and now the visionary co-founder and CEO of Eazewell.

What begins as a story about basketball evolves into a powerful conversation about grief, legacy, and the future of funeral service software.

From Basketball Courts to Boardrooms

Donnell’s roots in Inglewood, California shaped his worldview. Basketball was more than a sport, it was an escape from hardship and a foundation for lifelong relationships, including his bond with Russell Westbrook. Tragedy struck early with the loss of a high school teammate, Khelcey Barrs III, an event that changed Donnell’s life and worldview around death.

That grief fueled his journey. After a successful run in sports and media, including producing documentaries through Zero World Media, Donnell turned personal loss into purpose, launching Eazewell, a hybrid platform that leverages AI and compassionate care to streamline funeral arrangements for families in need.

The Birth of Eazewell: AI + Empathy in Action

Eazewell is more than just another cremation website. It’s an innovative fusion of AI, automation, and 24/7 human support built to modernize online funeral arrangements without sacrificing empathy.

Here’s how it works:

Families land on Eazewell after a death and instantly receive curated funeral home recommendations based on location and budget.
AI reaches out to selected funeral homes, gathers quotes, checks availability, and reports back via text, email, or phone.
Once a family selects a provider, Eazewell handles the handoff—complete with pre-filled case details, saving time for both the family and the funeral director.
Eazewell offers services like financing, digital memorials, fundraising, and an end-of-life checklist integrated with LegalZoom for estate planning.

This blend of automation and human touch makes Eazewell one of the most innovative funeral home ideas to hit the deathcare space in years.

A New Ally for Funeral Homes

Funeral directors know that missed calls often mean missed cases. Eazewell’s AI chatbot solves this, answering calls, capturing leads, and handling intake when staff are busy with other families. For funeral homes already stretched thin, this kind of automation isn’t just helpful—it’s essential.

Unlike other funeral home management systems that require full-on adoption, Eazewell acts as an additive layer. It doesn’t ask funeral homes to change their operations, it enhances them.

Features funeral directors love:

Streamlined intake process that reduces 2-hour meetings to 30 minutes.
AI-powered quote generation and lead qualification.
Funeral financing options integrated at the point of need.
Pre-need planning and prepaid cremation arrangements.
Account closing tools (e.g. notify credit bureaus, stop recurring payments).

In short, it’s not just a funeral director app. It’s an entire funeral arrangement software platform that makes online cremations accessible, compassionate, and efficient.

Built with Families and Funeral Homes in Mind

Donnell’s own experience planning his parents’ funerals, frustrated by binders, outdated processes, and no modern options, inspired Eazewell’s design. It’s built for families dealing with grief, but also for funeral homes that want to serve them better.

The platform already operates nationally, and data from initial rollouts is helping Eazewell refine its funeral tech offerings. In a time where many providers still use pen-and-paper or outdated funeral service software, Eazewell stands out as a tech-savvy partner.

A Purpose-Driven Business

Under Donnell’s leadership, both Eazewell and Russell Westbrook Enterprises follow a “profit with purpose” model.

They invest in ventures that generate value and create measurable community impact, whether that’s telling untold Black history through documentary film or helping families navigate one of life’s hardest moments through AI-enhanced cremation arrangements.

This mission-driven approach also means that Eazewell isn’t designed to replace funeral homes, but to uplift them. It offers scalable cremation advertising opportunities, value-added tools, and features that even the best funeral home software hasn’t yet integrated.

What’s Next?

Eazewell continues to grow. With a seasoned team, including CTO Vivian from Amazon Alexa and BMW Voice Control, Eazewell is building standalone B2B and B2C products for the funeral space. Upcoming partnerships in funeral financing, deeper AI integrations, and added value tools for funeral homes are already in development.

For funeral professionals looking for modern cremation software that enhances—not disrupts—their service model, Eazewell is a platform to watch. It bridges the gap between online funeral arrangements and in-person care, without losing the heart of what death care is all about.

If you’re looking to modernize your funeral home, Eazewell might not just be the best funeral home software you’ve never heard of, it might be the future of funeral tech.

🎧 Watch the full episode with Donnell Beverly Jr. here: https://youtu.be/eEbtRLSbEZ4