Douglas “Dutch" Nie didn’t always want to go into the family business, but after a stint in the Air Force, he decided funeral home director might be the career for him after all.

As a young man, Nie said was nervous about starting school at Huron High School and being labeled a weirdo because his family had just moved into apartments above the Carpenter Road funeral home his father owned.

“I thought maybe they’d call me Eddie Munster,” Nie said. “But my friends were actually curious.” Instead of making him an outcast, the funeral home intrigued his friends, and they wanted to come over to see it, Nie said.

Still, after high school, Nie’s dream was to be a police officer, so he pursued criminal justice courses while serving in the Air Force. He thought he might serve for 20 years and then retire from the Air Force to serve as a sheriff’s deputy.

However, after seven years of service, it was time to decide whether he wanted to re-enlist, and his ambitions had changed with marriage and the birth of two children. Family had become more important, and so he decided to move back to Michigan to be near relatives and provide a more stable lifestyle for raising children.

When his father retired in 2000, Nie bought the family business and has run it since then, adding a second location on Ann Arbor’s west side in 2007.

In addition to adding the second location, Nie has made an effort to keep up with the times, adding new products and services as technology has changed. The two Nie Funeral Homes locations are definitely not “your father’s funeral home” anymore.

Now, instead of using a paper guest book, visitors can leave memories of the deceased on a Web page, either from home or at a kiosk at the funeral home. Webcasting of funerals allows family and friends who can’t travel long distances can still feel they are part of the memorial service. And new electronic displays allow those shopping for coffins to see many styles and add-ons without having to crowd the funeral home with dozens of model caskets.

While technology has added some new elements to running a funeral home, people skills are still the main traits needed to be a good funeral director, however, Nie said.

“You’re helping these people through the most difficult time of their life, when even their friends don’t know what to say,” Nie said, adding that it was “rewarding” when people come up to him months or years later to thank him for guiding them through a time of grief.

When he is not running the two funeral home locations, Nie also serves as recording secretary for the Michigan Funeral Directors Association. He said membership in the MFDA was valuable for helping funeral directors keep up on trends, such as a growing demand for “green” burials that use fewer and less-toxic chemicals.

Additionally, Nie serves as state commander for the Michigan Mortuary Response Team. MI-MORT is a team made up of different professions all with the common goal of responding and assisting local medical examiners and local emergency management agencies in identification and the return of human remains to their loved ones following a catastrophic event with mass fatalities. These kinds of teams have been operating at the national level for many years, Nie said, but it’s only been fairly recently that some of the duties have been delegated to the state level.

When asked if being a funeral director and being involved in MI-MORT has changed his attitudes toward death and grief, Nie says that he has a much different view of the funeral home business today than when his father was still running it.

“I grew up and realized that what my dad did all those years was not dealing with dead bodies but was dealing with families and their loss,” Nie said. “As I matured, I realized what an important service he was providing to the community.”

Background

Age: 45

Education: Graduate of Huron High School, 1982; associate’s degree in criminal justice, Community College of the Air Force, 1987; bachelor’s of Mortuary Science, Wayne State University, 2002

Family: Wife of 25 years, Donna. Four children: Jacob (23) Jesse (21), Natalie (11) and Jordan (9)

Residence: Milan

Business Insights

Best business decision: Serving in the U.S. Air Force before returning to the family business.

Worst business decision: Not following my gut in making a couple decisions quick enough.

Best way to keep a competitive edge: Remembering that being a family business we answer to Main Street and not Wall Street.

Personal hero: Ronald Reagan

How do you motivate people? Involve them in goal setting and sharing feedback from the families we have served.

What advice would you give to yourself in college? Remember there is book smart and world smart and remember to find the balance between the two.

Word that best describes you: Not sure, but I hope it’s a nice one.

First website you check in the morning: Email accounts first, then read the headlines on my homepage.

Confessions

What keeps you up at night? Thinking about what needs to get done the next day.

Pet peeve: Dishonesty

Guilty pleasure: Hot wings

First job: Paper route

First choice for a new career: Governor of Michigan

Treasures

Favorite cause: Rotary Club

Favorite book: “Flags of our Fathers” by James Bradley

Favorite movie: HBO’s “Band of Brothers”

Favorite hobby: Camping

Favorite restaurant: Ruby Tuesday

LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Facebook

Typical Saturday: When not working, spending time with family and friends.

What team do you root for? Detroit Red Wings, U of M everything.

Wheels: Jeep Wrangler four door.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at sarahrigg@yahoo.com.