John Llewellyn has spent four decades in the cemetery and funeral industries. For more than two decades he was president and chief executive officer of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks® & Mortuaries in Southern California.

Widely acknowledged as a cemetery and funeral industry leader, Llewellyn has been president of the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association and the Cemetery and Mortuary Association of California as well as being an officer and director of the Western Cemetery Alliance.

Active in the community, John Llewellyn has served as a hospital, university, and foundation trustee. He has been on the boards of directors of more than two dozen non-profit organizations including serving as chairman of the Braille Institute of America, Los Angeles Area Council-Boy Scouts of America, the Employers Group, and the Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau as well as serving as a director of various for-profit enterprises.

In his most recent book, Birth of a Cemetery,Llewellyn tells the story of Forest Lawn's early years. Although several books have been written about Forest Lawn, the emphasis has always been on Hubert Eaton. That was a narrative largely controlled by Eaton. This book tells the unvarnished history of the years before Eaton and how Eaton attained control of the organization. As the last general of the family to lead Forest Lawn, he is uniquely positioned to tell this story.

John's second book, Saying Goodbye Your Way, has been praised for providing valuable information to consumers in an easy to read, non-judgmental format.

His first book, A Cemetery Should Be Forever, was widely acclaimed by state regulators and members of the cemetery industry in the U.S. and Europe as capturing the complexities and challenges of managing a cemetery. Many cemetery managers have purchased copies of the book for all members of their governing boards. Llewellyn's book has also been used in a number of college level courses.

John graduated from the University of Redlands with a major in economics and received an MBA from the University of Southern California. He lives in Pasadena, California with his wife, Carol, and their dog Spotless.