In the years that followed, Loewen rapidly expanded his company, purchasing hundreds of small independent funeral homes.
[10] In 1995, Jeremiah O'Keefe, a funeral home operator in Mississippi represented by Willie E. Gary sued the Loewen Group in a breach of contract suit.
The move backfired when the jury learned that unlike Mr. Loewen's deals with whites, the contracts did not include services like embalming and viewing at Loewen-affiliated funeral homes.
[9] The large amount of punitive damages awarded in the O'Keefe lawsuit was criticized by some legal experts, but Loewen was unable to appeal, and this setback led to a significant downturn in the company's fortunes.
[16] Ray Loewen was portrayed by Bill Camp in the 2023 legal drama film The Burial about the O'Keefe case.
[2] After the release of the film The Burial, Loewen was the subject of a spoof on the Mennonite satire website The Unger Review.