Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death®

Death Educator Gail Rubin a 2019 Women of Influence Award Winner

Jan 15, 2019 | 1 comment

Albuquerque Business First Recognizes 20 Women in 15th Annual Event

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, is recognized as one of the 2019 Women of Influence by the Albuquerque Business First business news outlet. (View ABF’s online story about Gail Rubin here.)

While the 20 honorees include women from many spheres of business, including health care, higher education, and law, Gail Rubin is the only honoree who is a death educator. Known throughout the U.S. as The Doyenne of Death®, a doyenne is a woman who’s considered senior in a group who knows a lot about a particular subject. She’s an expert on “the party no one wants to plan.”

Gail Rubin with motto
Gail Rubin’s motto is “Talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, and talking about funerals and end-of-life issues won’t make you dead.”

Through her company, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die, she helps people plan ahead for end-of-life issues using humor, funny film clips, and outside-the-box activities.

“My motto is, talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, and talking about funerals and end-of-life issues won’t make you dead,” said Rubin.

Rubin is a public speaker, a published author of three books, host of a TV interview series and podcast, a blogger, a funeral industry trade journalist, a Certified Funeral Celebrant, and an innovator in the funeral business. She created a conversation-starting game called The Newly-Dead Game®, introduced the Death Café movement in the United States, and held the first Before I Die Festival west of the Mississippi in 2017.

Rubin’s contributions to the community

Rubin gives back to the Albuquerque community in a number of ways. She is:

Gail Rubin with blue background
Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, contributes to the Albuquerque community.
  • A board member of Fathers Building Futures, a nonprofit social enterprise that gives jobs and skills to previously incarcerated parents, reducing recidivism. Their clients make caskets and urns in their woodworking shop.
  • A volunteer with the Chevrah Kadisha, the Jewish burial society, those who wash and dress the bodies of Jews in the traditional tahara ritual.
  • A member of the cemetery committee for Congregation Albert synagogue.
  • A past president and board member of the New Mexico Interfaith Dialogue, which holds an annual Spring Colloquium that facilitates meaningful conversations among Christians, Jews and Muslims.
  • President-elect of the National Speakers Association New Mexico Chapter and an officer of Albuquerque Challenge Toastmasters International Club.

The awards selection process began with an open call for nominations from the community. Nominees submitted a detailed application, which was evaluated by a panel of judges who are leaders in the business community and alumna of the award. The judges evaluated applicants based on their professional achievement, community involvement and leadership. 

Rubin and the other 2019 Women of Influence were honored at the 15th annual awards luncheon on Monday, February 25, at Sandia Resort and Casino. Other Women of Influence being honored at the event include Garnett Stokes, the president of the University of New Mexico, two officials of New Mexico State University, and Shari O’Loughlin, executive director of the Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico.

Awardees were featured in a special edition of Albuquerque Business First, along with the more than 300 women who have been honored over 15 years.

Learn more and download a planning form and Executor’s Checklist from Rubin’s website, www.AGoodGoodbye.com.

A Good Goodbye