Owner and President, Licensed Funeral Director of her family’s business, Ralph Schugar Chapel, Inc., Sharon is the third generation of Ryave family funeral directors, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, Jacob Ryave, her father, Arnold Ryave, her brother, David, and her mother, Gail Perlut Ryave, all deceased.  Sharon proudly holds the distinction of being the first Jewish woman to become a licensed funeral director in Pittsburgh following her graduation from  the Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science as Class President in 1995.

Sharon’s professional affiliations include memberships in the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association (PFDA), the Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association (ACFDA), and the Jewish Funeral Directors of America (JFDA). Ralph Schugar Chapel is a proud member of KAVOD, an invitation-only organization for independently owned Jewish funeral homes of distinction. She is on the Board of Directors for the Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association, the Jewish Association on Aging, and is a Lifetime Member of the National Council of Jewish Women, where she is a former board member.  Former Board of Directors member of the Aleph Institute, Northeast Division.  

Sharon lives in Squirrel Hill now but retains her South Hills affiliations with memberships at Beth El Congregation and Temple Emanuel of South Hills.  She is also a. Member of Beit Kulanu and Congregation Beth Shalom, the congregation she grew up in. Sharon is proud to continue the Ryave family tradition of service to the Pittsburgh area by welcoming her two sons, Benjamin and Joshua Brody to the staff as the fourth generation. 

Sharon enjoys offering talks and tours to local synagogue and temples’ members and their religious school students to educate and inform the Jewish community on traditional Jewish funeral practices.  Regarded as a community leader and valuable resource, Sharon is often quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Jewish Chronicle on topics related to Jewish funeral customs, death, dying and grief support. In her free time, Sharon enjoys spending time in the woods with her treasured family and friends and her cherished and exhausting three dogs, Casey, Addi and Ollie, a golden retriever, a “chiweenie,” and a long-haired dachshund.