Life Line NEWSLETTER
Quarterly Newsletter Edition I January - March, 2004
The
Yellow
LifeGem ®
diamond
has By Greg Herro
C.E.O., LifeGem
arrived
It is with great pleasure that I
announce the arrival of the
Yellow LifeGem® diamond. We
have been working diligently for
the last twelve months to make
this a reality. Please see our
brochure, or visit our website
LifeGem.com for a first hand look
at these stunning new LifeGem
diamonds. As expected, the final
color of the yellow LifeGem dia-
mond comes from your loved
one's unique carbon and is as
exceptional as the setting sun -
often containing gentle shades of
From left to right standing: Dean VandenBiesen (V.P. of Operations), Mike
pink and orange. Nitrogen, along Herro (C.F.O.), Rusty VandenBiesen (C.O.O.) Sitting: Greg Herro (C.E.O.)
with other elements in your loved
one's carbon is the basis for this
beautiful colored diamond. Every
one is unique. There will never
Good-bye cremation interruption,
be two identical in the world.
This highly requested color
Hello carbon from cremated remains
brings about many new advance-
By Dean
ments for our customers. The country to have the carbon collect-
VandenBiesen
stability in the growth of these ed. We knew this was not desir-
V.P. of Operations,
diamonds has increased our cre- LifeGem able or practical, so instead, we
ation success rate to nearly made the carbon collection
100%. Very rarely do we ever process available in any area that
need to recreate our families' had a crematory. We developed
LifeGem® diamonds, and when unique equipment to collect car-
we do, the enhancements in our From the day we introduced bon during a cremation and
research and technology allow us the LifeGem® created diamond to trained crematory operators
to recognize and solve the issue the world just over a year ago, the across the country how to use it
much more quickly. This has initial concern raised by both safely and effectively when a
allowed us to create, facet, laser funeral directors and clients was LifeGem family chose our servic-
about the transportation of es.
PLEASE SEE YELLOW, PAGE 2
deceased loved ones across the PLEASE SEE AVAILABLE TO ALL, PAGE 3
PAGE 2
What our
Heard about LifeGem from their ads?
customers are
Really? They haven’t run any yet.
By Julie Worthheim saying...
Freelance Journalist thereafter, the phone rang off the
hook, and hasn't stopped since.
"Just thinking about Gerry's dia-
Just a little over a year ago, Over 180 radio interviews later, mond gives me a warm feeling; it's
there was no such thing as a with coverage in 800 newspapers almost as though he's going to be
®
LifeGem diamond. Although worldwide, and as seen on hun- coming "home" again. It's hard
LifeGem had been working on dreds of television broadcasts to explain - but it's a nice feeling,
their idea since 1999, everything including NBC's Today Show, Jay and thanks to you and LifeGem, I'm
was kept under very tight security. Leno, Regis & Kellie, the Today able to feel something besides the
show in Australia and in Japan, sorrow, loneliness, and fear that
Finally, in 2002, they successfully
they introduced the LifeGem® to have been with me since he died.
created their prototype diamond Thank you from the bottom of my
from animal car- over 650 million
A M A Z I N G M E D I A R O L L O U T people worldwide... heart for making it possible."
bon and turned - Carol Thorndyke , Florida
their thinking in one year.
Customer inquires in first year of
towards offering Not to mention,
their discovery to
business - 4 , 8 0 0
New York Yellow
Daily Inquires for information - 2 2 University Film stu- CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
the public.
On August dents have created inscribe, and certify your
Number of website visitors to date
20 th, 2002, they a short film called LifeGem diamond in well under
470,000
released their "Lost and Found", five months. Amazing, especially
Web visitors per day - 6 0 0
invention to the a 15-minute when you realize it takes nature
world. The Certified Funeral Home Partners romantic fictional millions of years to accomplish this
®
LifeGem , a dia- in 2002 - 4 (in Illinois only) comedy solely feat.
mond created from At end of 2003 - 2 8 0 (Worldwide) about the The fact that your LifeGem®
human carbon was LifeGem® diamond. diamond is created from a distinct
®
born. "It was quite Worldwide LifeGem availability This movie will pre- carbon source is the only separa-
Canada, Australia, South miere at NYU's
exciting to create a tion from a diamond borne of the
Africa, The Netherlands, First Run Film
product new to this Belgium, and Hungary earth. It has the same brilliance,
world, a product Festival in April fire, luster, and of course hard-
that did not exist Worldwide expansion in 2004 2004. ness. Like natural diamonds, the
before we created United Kingdom and Japan Suffice it to yellow LifeGem diamond is the
it. For the last say, LifeGem® is hardest substance known on our
T o t a l 2 0 0 3 M a r k e t i n g B u d g e t finding its place in
2000 years there planet.
had been only two $0 the world, but I The yellow LifeGem® diamond
options for our believe they are represents everything our families
Advertisements run still just beginning.
passing loved 0 are looking for in a memorial to
ones… now there This is one compa- their loved ones. The way it
are three," said ny you definitely sparkles in the sunlight reveals the
Greg Herro, LifeGem CEO. want to keep track of. Not only do inner beauty and "life" of the
The exclusive media release they provide a comforting product LifeGem diamond. The LifeGem
was given to their local newspaper in a market where few exist, they diamond has always been about
- the Chicago Tribune, who imme- have created a globally recog- the celebration of your loved one's
diately ran the article on the front nized brand name with big plans unique life. As a comforting
page. "As we awoke that morn- for expansion. One of the most memorial to keep with you as you
ing, we wondered… would anyone common questions they hear… continue on, we are pleased to
call," questioned Herro. "When are you going public?" report that according to our fami-
Well, it didn't take long for that lies, the yellow LifeGem® diamond
to be answered. Immediately goes beyond their every expecta-
tion.
What our customers PAGE 3
are saying... Available to all
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 remains as well.
“Today marks a year since my niece, When we first introduced the It took nearly six months, but
Valerie, passed away. I thought it LifeGem®, this was the only we finally established and perfect-
timely to write and tell you how very method available for collecting ed a method for separating the
much her LifeGem has meant to me. carbon from the body. Even so, carbon from existing cremated
I have had my LifeGem set in a ring many funeral directors were not remains. Based on our research
that I shall wear always. Its brilliance and numerous tests, we knew the
comfortable interrupting the stan-
and beauty bring a measure of com-
dardized and regulated cremation carbon still existed. What we
fort. When our family was together
process. As advanced as it was, needed was a way to carefully
in May and our five rings together, I
truly felt Valerie was with us. we were intent on making our separate it from the rest of the
Although we are still trying to work process better for the funeral pro- remains. We finally discovered
through our loss, our pain has been fession and families alike. We how to accomplish this during the
eased because our LifeGems are a realized very quickly that the next purification phase. During this
precious remembrance. Valerie advancement should focus on a phase, the carbon in the ashes
asked that we celebrate her life method of extracting carbon right you provide will coalesce with the
rather than mourn her death. Our from the cremated remains so the natural carbon used in our dia-
LifeGem diamonds help us to do so.” mond growth process. This will
LifeGem could become an option
- Kathy J. Rinna , Illinois
for those with existing cremated PLEASE SEE AVAILABLE, PAGE 4
Yea, DON’T FORGET!
thou we
are but LifeGem Seminars ®
mere count towards continuing education.
mortals Call 866-543-3436 to schedule yours today.
Our speakers travel throughout the country!
By Rusty VandenBiesen
C.O.O., LifeGem
Most of us have experienced these unusual symbols I received with others. Each time finding that
some monumental event in our a crash course in mortality. My I was not the only one feeling this
lives and can remember exactly immediate reaction was panic and way. We are not alone.
where we were at the exact sec- the realization of my own future, It was this journey that led to
ond it occurred. September 11 th and infinite, non-existence. That and allowed for the development
and JFK's death are two that was the first of my many panic of the LifeGem® created diamond.
come to mind immediately. Events attacks related to the realization Confronting our fears and finding a
so shocking, that myself, my par- comforting solution became our
we were “I don't want to achieve immortality ents, my friends, passion. Together we developed
caused to face through my work. I want to achieve everyone would be the LifeGem diamond so that we
our own vulner- it through not dying.” gone some day. could help others on their own per-
ability and - Woody Allen Infinite loss and sonal journey. Whether dealing
immediately grief. with your own mortality, or the loss
realize that our mortality is non- My ability to dwell on this con- of a cherished loved one, we
negotiable. On the other hand, cept until panic set in was a per- stand with you and share in your
some of us become aware of our sonal secret that tormented me for personal journey trying to find
own mortality much sooner. the next 15 years. It was not until inner peace and comfort with
I was a five year old visiting I confronted my own fears of loss regards to that which we have no
my German Catholic and death that I could move on in control.
Grandmother. Every room had a life. Rather than hiding from mor-
crucifix. Upon my inquiry into tality, I began sharing my thoughts
PAGE 4
The Corporate “Who”... and Available
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
some interesting “What, allow the carbon from your
loved one to be carefully removed
When, and Why” intact from the ash remains.
By Mike Herro When the process is complete,
C.F.O., LifeGem your loved one's carbon will have
Geology and a minor in been transformed to an extremely
While pondering life's myster- Professional Writing from Eastern pure form of carbon known as
ies the other day, it occurred to me Illinois University. graphite. This graphite still con-
that we have never formally intro- By now you probably realize tains other unique elements such
duced ourselves. You may have that we are made up of two differ- as boron and nitrogen from your
read about us here or there, but I ent sets of brothers. Clearly, fami- loved one's remains and will lead
would like to take this brief ly ties played a large part in bring- to the creation of your beautiful
moment in time to introduce our ing us together. It went a little and one-of-a-kind LifeGem® dia-
key personnel and say hello. something like this. mond. No two LifeGem diamonds
I would first like to introduce As a teenager, I met a girl will ever be the same. The majori-
Rusty VandenBiesen, our C.O.O. named Kim. She had a sister ty of our orders now come from
and original brainchild of the named Sara, who I introduced to existing cremated remains, and
LifeGem® diamond idea. Rusty is my brother Greg. They are now the results are consistent; a beau-
an integral part of our creativity married. Sara’s sister Kim eventu- tiful gem quality diamond created
and conceptualization and has a ally met Dean. Dean and Kim from the carbon of your loved one.
BS Degree in Management from married and Greg was introduced The total amount of cremated
Cardinal Stritch College in to Dean’s brother, Rusty. Rusty remains needed for the creation of
Milwaukee, WI. and Greg became great friends your complete LifeGem® order,
I am Mike Herro, the CFO of and eventually decided to start a regardless of quantity (within rea-
LifeGem, and also one of its four business… this business. son), is approximately eight (8)
original co-founders. I have a Confusing... but true. Sometimes ounces. Please understand that
Bachelor's Degree in Accounting truth is stranger than fiction. the cremated remains sent in will
and Finance from Augustana Thankfully, all of our unique and not be returned. The purification
College and an MBA in Finance special skills were the perfect phase literally burns the ash por-
from DePaul University. I have match to not only make the tion of the remains into thin air.
been a CPA since 1992. LifeGem® a reality, but to also One common question about
Interestingly enough, there is attain much initial success. our new procedure is, "How many
another Herro within our ranks, Mr. Well, there is certainly much, LifeGem® diamonds can be creat-
Gregory Herro, the CEO of much more to this story, which I ed from this process?" Answer,
LifeGem, my brother, and another hope to share with you as we we can easily create over twenty
of its four original co-founders. grow into the future, but for now I LifeGem diamonds from this
Greg graduated Summa Cum will leave it at that. I am glad to process. Of course, all unused
Laude from Illinois State University have met many of you, and I hope carbon is securely stored in the
in 1990 with degrees in both to meet many more of you as our event of a future family need or
Industrial Technology and Graphic relationships evolve. Thank you to desire to have an additional
Communications. everyone who has helped us LifeGem diamond created.
Last but not least, I am proud along our way. If you have any
Our new process works flaw-
to introduce, Dean VandenBiesen, questions or comments, please
lessly and efficiently every time.
our V.P. of Operations. Dean don't hesitate to give us a call.
The result is always a rare and
rounds out the four co-founders, We are expanding rapidly and are
beautiful LifeGem® diamond, but
and as you might have already always interested in adding good
more importantly, a pleased and
gathered, is Rusty's brother. Dean people to our team.
comforted family.
has a Bachelors Degree in
LifeGem® 836 Arlington Heights Road #311 Elk Grove Village, IL 60007 866-LIFEGEM (866-543-3436) www.LifeGem.com