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THE LOEWEN GROUP INC.                                                       
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(NYSE, TSE, ME: LWN)                                                          
       NEWS


Contact:
Thomas C. Franco
Broadgate Consultants, Inc.
Tel: (212) 232-2222


                              FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



                 THREE NEW DIRECTORS NAMED TO LOEWEN GROUP BOARD


VANCOUVER, BC, December 17, 1998 -- The Loewen Group Inc. (NYSE, TSE, ME: LWN)
announced today the election of three new outside directors to the Company's
Board of Directors. The new directors are: Thomas M. Taylor, President of
TMI-FW, Inc.; John S. Lacey, most recently President and Chief Executive Officer
of The Oshawa Group; and William R. Riedl, President of Fairvest Securities
Corporation. Mr. Lacey was also elected to the Special Committee of the Board of
Directors which is continuing to examine all strategic alternatives for
maximizing shareholder value.

Thomas M. Taylor is President of Thomas M. Taylor & Co. and TMI-FW, Inc.,
investment consulting firms that provide services to Tundra Investors L.P.,
certain other entities associated with certain members of the Bass family of
Fort Worth, Texas and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board. Mr. Taylor is also a
director of Agrium, Inc., Encal Energy Limited, John Wiley & Sons, Kirby
Corporation, MacMillan Bloedel Limited, Meditrust Companies and Moore
Corporation Limited.

John S. Lacey is an experienced executive who has held a number of senior
management positions. He most recently served as President and Chief Executive
Officer of The Oshawa Group. The Oshawa Group owns Agora Food Merchants
(Canada's largest food retail franchiser) and SERCA Foodservice Inc. (Canada's
only national foodservice wholesaler). Prior to his service at the The Oshawa
Group, Mr. Lacey was President and CEO of Western International



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Communications Ltd. (WIC), a leading Canadian broadcast, communications and
entertainment company.

William R. Riedl has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Fairvest
Securities Corporation, an institutional stock brokerage firm, since 1991. Mr.
Riedl is currently a director of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada
and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Yonge Street Mission.

Speaking on behalf of the Loewen Group Board's Director Search Committee, John
N. Turner, who is also chairman of the Special Committee of the Board, stated,
"We welcome the counsel and experience the three new outside directors bring to
the Board as we continue our efforts to consider all strategies to maximize
shareholder value."

The three new outside directors replace three inside directors of the Company
who retired today from the Board as part of the Board's previously announced
policy of keeping the size of the Board at a practical level while, at the same
time, increasing the number of outside directors.

The retiring directors are Loewen Group employees Timothy R. Hogenkamp, Paul
Wagler and Larry Miller all of whom will continue in their present non-Director
roles with the Company.

The Loewen Group Inc. is the second largest funeral home and cemetery operator
in North America. The Company employs approximately 16,000 people and owns or
operates more than 1,100 funeral homes and over 500 cemeteries across the United
States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Over 90 percent of the Company's revenue
is derived from the United States.

The Loewen Group's website is located at http://www.loewengroup.com

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