John Laurence Funke ’52

John Laurence Funke ’52 passed away on January 26, 2011, in Troy, New York. He came to Dartmouth from Cincinnati, Ohio. He graduated from Ohio Military School, attended Dartmouth for one year, then left to join the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in combat with the 1st Marine Division in Korea. In July 2003 The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, ran a series of 28 stories about veteran’s war experiences—including John’s—on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Korean truce. Following the service he enrolled and graduated from the University of Cincinnati as valedictorian of his class. While in college John joined Proctor & Gamble in Cincinnati. He became a packaging engineer and got a patent for the Prell shampoo box that had a window to see the shampoo inside the clear container with the “pearl” inside. He also was one of the first to test shrink-wrapping. While in college he met and married Nancy, who was from Albany, New York. Later in his career he and his wife moved to the Albany area, where John owned and operated the Flower Shoppe in Clifton Park for 17 years. Nancy passed away in 1990. Survivors include son Brooke and daughters Melissa, Marcia and Mindy.