Dr. C. Reed Funk, world-renowned plant breeder, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend, passed away Oct. 4, 2012, at the age of 84. He was born to Cyril and Hazel Funk on Sept. 20, 1928, in Richmond, Utah, where he was raised on the family farm that he loved.
After completing an LDS mission to the Eastern States, he returned home to his college sweetheart, Donna Gwen Buttars, and on Feb. 2, 1951, they were married in the Logan LDS Temple. He served honorably as 1st lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
Reed loved and valued education. He graduated from North Cache High School. He received both a BS and MS degree from Utah State University and graduated with the highest GPA of his class. After a year of studying alfalfa breeding at Iowa State, he transferred to Rutgers University where he earned a Ph.D. in agronomy.
Reed was the leader of one of the world's most extensive turfgrass breeding projects. His selections comprise more commercially accepted varieties than any other breeder in the world. Reed has been the recipient of numerous accolades and awards, most notably: "Man of the Year" by 1982-83 Oregon Seed Trade Association; "Man of the Year" by Landscape and Irrigation magazine, 1985; Distinguished Service Award for Agricultural Research from the United States Department of Agriculture, 1990; "Fred V. Grau Turfgrass Science Award," Crop Science Society of America, 1990; and the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1991. Reed was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991, and in 1994 he received an honorary doctorate degree of agricultural sciences from Utah State University. He was inducted into the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences in 1998. The Dr. C. Reed Funk building was dedicated to him at the Rutgers Hort. Farm II. He has been written up in numerous trade publications, as well as The New York Times and US News and World Report. He authored and co-authored several hundred scientific publications.
At the age of 75 he became the George Hammell Cook Emeritus Professor at Rutgers University and founded the non-profit charitable organization, Improving Perennial Plants for Food and Bioenergy (IPPFBE). The IPPFBE mission is the scientific selection and improvement of underutilized perennial plant species for the production of food, timber and energy and the preservation and enhancement of soil for the benefit of the entire world. Reed's dream was to eradicate world hunger.
Even with his extensive education, experience, and long list of impressive accomplishments, his family will remember him most for the Christ-like example he set. His generosity, humility, honesty, modesty, kindness, hospitality and integrity were unparalleled. He had a tremendous sense of humor and contagious smile. We can never express our appreciation for his love, patience and kindness that we have witnessed these last few years as he has treated his sweetheart, our mother, with the dignity she deserved during her ongoing battle with Alzheimer's.
He is survived by his wife, Donna; their children, Bonnie (Jeff) Adams of Somerset, N.J., David (Tamara) Funk of Richmond, Utah, and Carol Jean (Brian) Petersen of Tremonton, Utah; and his siblings, Anna Wheeler of Chandler, Ariz., Helen (Ken) Cutler of Provo, Utah, Mary Lou Cordon of Ogden, Utah, Ramona (Ken) Turner of Richmond, Utah, Clarence (Joan) Funk of San Diego, Calif. He adored and took great pride in his 10 grandchildren and soon-to-be eight great-grandchildren.
Reed dedicated his life to making the world a better place and succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations. He is deeply loved and will be greatly missed. Please come and celebrate Reed's life with us.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, in the Richmond 4th Ward chapel, 150 S. 100 West. A viewing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 E. Center St., Logan, and from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, prior to services at the church.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to IPPFBE, Reed's non-profit group, at any Lewiston State Bank or on the website www.ippfbe.org. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.allenmortuaries.net.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Logan Herald Journal from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9, 2012.

Memories and Condolences
for C. Funk

15 Entries

Yajun Chen

October 2, 2024

Sincere condolences to Dr Fund, a world-class turf breeder. We will surely carry on your wishes and carry forward your career. Let the world have a beautiful scene of green turf everywhere, and use turf to build a more beautiful earth home for human beings.

Yajun Chen

October 1, 2022

Dr. Funk is a great lawn breeder who contributed many lawn varieties to the world. We will miss you forever!

Yajun Chen

October 7, 2020

I know you studied a lot about Kentucky bluegrass. I'm also doing research on the breeding and application of Kentucky bluegrass. How I wish my work could be as excellent as yours for the benefit of mankind. I wish you all the best in heaven

Yajun Chen

October 5, 2019

Funk is a great plant scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the world plant science. We will miss him forever. Wish him happiness in heaven

Dr. C. Reed Funk was a leader in turfgrass breeding for 50 years!

Mike Kenna

October 18, 2012

Yajun Chen

October 17, 2012

I will always remember the world great plant breeder---Dr. C. Reed Funk.

Cara Robinson

October 12, 2012

My mom's wonderful older brother, Reed Funk has been such a blessing in my life. When I was seventeen years old I worked with Dr. Funk (AKA Uncle Reed) at Rutger's University. I love our daily visits as we drove to work. I was able to spend four summers with Uncle Reed and Aunt Donna and love them very much. Their hard work, kindness and generousity is amazing.
Cara Robinson

Richard Wang

October 11, 2012

My wife and I were saddened by learning the news that Dr. Funk had passed away. He had been so kind and generous to us. We will forever miss him.
I lost a great mentor and friend. His teaching and exemplary scientific achievements will always guide me in my life.

October 10, 2012

My condolences to the Funk family and his many close friends in there.
Rodney Hart

October 10, 2012

Wish I had known him. Why do I find out about the great people only after they are gone?
Larry D. Cook
Indiana

David Pearl

October 9, 2012

Dr. Funk was a pioneer and visionary in the turf industry. We will miss his presence. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

October 9, 2012

There has never been anyone like Dr. Funk, nor will there be anyone like him again. He was a person who could have done virtually anything he wanted to, professionally and scientifically, and we are “lucky” that he selected to work with turf”. He was a true genius, put on this earth to speed up man's progress like Copernicus, Linnaeus and Einstein. There were no limits on what he could do, or what he wanted to do. He told me 30 years ago, “David, it's all matter of time – what you can do and what you can get done”. That was the only limitation that he ever realized. He had an endless talent for science and turfgrass, and yet he devoted 15 years of research to collecting the world largest germplasm repository of nut trees, for the future benefit of man kind. He was quietly demanding, and you earned everything he had to offer you scientifically. He knew how to present it to you, in a fashion that would be a life long memory. As hard as I work, I have only done 5% of the good that he has done. I spent almost every Saturday with Dr. Funk for two years, as graduate student, spending long hours in Adelphia and Hort Farm II. His love of plants was second to none, and all of his students learned the practical and management aspects of turf, no matter what area of science you specialized in. To this day, when I am on grass collection trips on old golf courses, cemeteries, old parks or a western range, I always think of Dr. Funk and his keen sense of plant / environment interactions. No one else has ever come close to that knowledge he had. His intuition of people was just as good as it was with plants. I started graduate school in Soils and Crops on academic probation, as he took a chance with me. I remember sitting in his office in Lipman Hall, 2 days before Christmas, when Dr Funk looked at my first semester grades and said,….. “well, the committee wasn't sure you would make it, -- but I see that you did”. There was dead silence, and then a big smile on his face. We were the only two people in the building. I will never forget it. I will never forget him. Never in my life, with all the people that I have met, did I have the total absolute respect for a professor that I have for this man. When I spent a winter Saturday with him 5 years ago at Adelphia, I thanked him for the time we had together and still spoke to him as, “ Dr. Funk.” I wish I would have thanked him as, Reed. He will be watching all of us, and he expects us to keep the torch burning, and doing what is right for science and man kind. That's the least we can do.

Sincerely,
David Kopec – Turfgrass Extension Specialist and friend, University of Arizona.

October 7, 2012

Uncle Reed is an amazing, very good, kind and generous man and has done much good in his life helping others. I have been the beneficiary of his kindness many times.

It's the end of an era. Uncle Reed and Aunt Donna were my lifeline and extended family when I lived in New Jersey from 1986-1993. Many good memories......

We need many more of his type on this earth. I'm sure he's enjoying the ride on the other side now, with his parents and many, many others.

Laura Leigh Cutler
October 7, 2012

ken and teri shook

October 7, 2012

teri and i were saddend by his loss, but his gifts of giving and humbleness will for ever live on in all of us

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