Kenneth (Ken) Schlossberg is the fourth- generation owner and President of the Schlossberg Memorial Chapel and the historic Chapel on the Hill. Ken grew up in Mattapan, attended the Charles Logue Elementary school on Walk Hill St, then Boston Latin Junior High School until the family moved to Brookline. He graduated from Brookline High School, University of Rochester, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Affairs in Washington D.C. Ken and his wife, Sophia, a Jewish political refugee from the former Soviet Union, returned to Boston to care for his father Louis in his declining years and to ensure the continuation of the family business after he was gone. Upon his return and much to his dismay Ken became aware that his father was being preyed upon by a Texas based conglomerate who wanted to buy up all of the Jewish Funeral Homes in the greater Boston area. His father was steadfast in his refusal and both Louis and Ken believed strongly that monopolies and consolidation are never in the interest of the community, and even more so, they never operate in the interest of grieving families. Growing up in a tight knit Jewish Community in Boston, Ken has an intimate understanding of the many and varied individual needs of local families.
During Ken’s long career in Washington he maintained strong ties to the local Boston area, spending every summer in Nantasket with his family and mother Annette. He always had a strong focus on helping local communities whether it was as a journalist with the Washington Daily News, as an Inspector with the Office of Inspection, Office of Economic Opportunity, as the Staff Director of the United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and, finally, as the President of his own Consulting Company assisting colleges and universities receive funding for research and research facilities. His strong local ties led to clients included Tufts University, Boston University, Brandeis University, Boston College and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. While in Washington, he served on the Board of Directors as an advisor to his father Louis and facilitated his father’s purchase of two prominent Jewish funeral homes in Washington. After retiring from his Washington career, Ken greatly enjoyed reconnecting with his many friends in Boston, including many from his childhood years in Mattapan, Brookline and elsewhere. As a result, as a passion project he decided to produce a documentary film, Sidewalk Memories, about life in the Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan from the beginning to the middle of the 20th Century. You can watch a trailer of the Sidewalk Memories Documentary here and find further information about the project on SidewalkMemories.com