ABOUT US: Board of Directors 
President - Barbara Blaylock is a retired primary care physician who is now a health care advocate and educator. Her activities include promoting optimal end of life care, helping patients and families navigate the health care system, advocating for health care reform, and teaching volunteers, health care professionals and medical students. She serves on the Montgomery County (MD) Coalition on End of Life Care, and is a graduate of Duke and the Duke University School of Medicine. She formerly served as FCAME vice president.
Vice President - Brian Ditzler is a retired corporate communications and public affairs executive and practitioner who was director of communications for several different divisions in IBM for a number of years. He graduated from High Point College, was a journalist in the U.S. Navy, and did graduate work at the University of Maryland College of Journalism. He formerly served as FCAME publications editor.
Treasurer - F. (Knick) Knickerbocker is a retired manager of economic programs at the U.S. Census Bureau. Prior to his 30 years in government service, he was an international business executive and member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School. He has degrees from Williams College, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. He also is an official in the National Capital Area chapter of Compassion and Choices, and served as FCAME treasurer last year.
Elizabeth (Liz) Cocke is national program director of a consumer-based program at the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and became interested in FCAME because of its focus on consumer protection and education. She is a graduate of Mt. Holyoke College and has a Ph.D. in housing and urban studies from the University of Canberra in Australia. She formerly served as president of FCAME.
Earl Kragnes is a retired manager of the Inter-religious Liaison Office of AARP. Previous positions include executive director of the Oklahoma Council of Churches and director of religious education for the Missouri Council of Churches. He is a graduate of Johnson Bible College and Phillips Theological Seminary. He has been a Memorial Society and FCAME member for more than 30 years.
Jay Cherry is a retired speech pathologist. He founded the Greater Baltimore Memorial Society in 1960 and in 1990 helped establish the Memorial Society of Maryland and Environs, which combined four memorial societies into what is now FCAME. He served as a board member of the Continental Association of Funeral and Memorial Societies on several occasions. He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and Western Reserve Universities.