After leaving politics, Loewen was involved in real estate for a time. During the mid-1980s, he began acquiring Canadian funeral homes. In 1987, the Loewen Group expanded into the United States. By 1997, the company had 15,000 employees and operated 1,115 funeral homes. In 1995, Jeremiah O'Keefe, a funeral home operator in Mississippi represented by Willie E. Gary won US$500 million in damages in a breach of contract suit. The large amount of punitive damages awarded relative to business assets not worth more than $4 million was criticized, but this setback led to a downturn in the company's fortunes. In 1998, Loewen stepped down as CEO and sold his shares in the company. The Loewen Group filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999; in 2002, it was restructured as the Alderwoods Group. In 2006, Alderwoods board of directors sold Alderwoods to Service Corporation International (SCI), an American funeral corporation.
