Wilfred John Funk

Background

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Isaac Kauffman Funk, one of the founders of the publishing firm of Funk and Wagnalls, and of Helen Gertrude Thompson.

Education

In 1909, following graduation with a B. Litt. from Princeton University, where he had been an English major and class poet, Funk joined the family company.

Career

His first job was selling The Jewish Encyclopedia in New York City. He also prepared advertising copy and directed the firm's educational department. After his father's death in April 1912, Funk became secretary of Funk and Wagnalls.

He moved up to the vice-presidency two years later, and in 1925 he became president, remaining in that position until 1940.

His light verse appeared regularly in magazines after 1927. Six volumes of his poems, including two later collections, were published. The first of them was Manhattans, Bronxes and Queens (1931).

In March 1936, Funk took over the editorship of Literary Digest, which Funk and Wagnalls had founded in 1890. The magazine's circulation had been falling for several years because of the Great Depression and competition from newer weekly magazines, particularly Time.

Funk continued the efforts begun earlier to revive the magazine, but although he tried to make it more like its competition, he was unable to arrest the circulation decline.

As editor, he oversaw the 1936 Literary Digest presidential straw poll, which reported the Republican challenger, Alfred M. Landon, to be far ahead of incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Since beginning its straw polls in 1916, the Digest had earned a reputation for accuracy, particularly in presidential election polls.

Its 1936 experience has been cited as a classic example of bad polling technique. Professional pollsters have been especially critical of the Digest's method of mass mailings of ballots to persons whose names were selected from various sources, including telephone books and its own subscription rolls.

Although the 1936 poll is often cited as the major reason for the magazine's demise in 1938, it was only the last blow to an already tottering publication. Funk served as editor until June 1937, when the magazine was purchased by, and merged with, the Review of Reviews.

It ceased publication in February 1938. Funk used money from the 1937 sale to start new publishing ventures: Kingsway Press, Yourself Publications, Your Health Publications, and Publications Management. He was president and director of each company and editorial director of the magazines they established, the first of which was Your Life (1937), a pocket-size magazine devoted to self-improvement.

In April 1940, Funk resigned as president of Funk and Wagnalls to start Wilfred Funk, Inc. , a book publishing firm. One of its first books was John F. Kennedy's Why England Slept (1940).

Funk sold his interest in the firm to Funk and Wagnalls in 1954, and in 1961 he divested himself of his other publishing interests. Funk was best known for his books and articles on vocabulary improvement and etymology and for other works exemplifying "his taste for whimsical research, " as one reviewer noted of his first published prose volume, So You Think It's New (1937).

His work, Time observed, "made the entire nation self-conscious about its vocabulary, " and he was "a tireless missionary for the English language. " He viewed the language as living and evolving, "formed by everyday usage. "

Over the years Funk periodically announced lists that, the New York Times wrote, "became cultural conversation pieces. " They included the ten most overused words (okay, terrific, lousy, racket, definitely, gal, honey, swell, contact, impact); the ten most beautiful words (dawn, hush, lullaby, murmuring, tranquil, mist, luminous, chimes, golden, melody); and a 204-word vocabulary of a pet dog.

With Norman Lewis, Funk wrote 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary (1942), which remained a top seller among vocabulary-building books for many years.

From 1946 until his death he also wrote a popular Reader's Digest monthly feature, "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power. "

Achievements

• In late 1937, Funk started Your Life, a 128-page digest size "Popular Guide to Desirable Living". At 25¢ an issue, it contained articles such as "Be Glad Your Wife's Neurotic" and "Why Commit Suicide?". Circulation ran to more than 100, 000, with spin-off titles Your Personality and Your Health. The success of the magazine allowed him to start his own book publishing business in 1940, Wilfred Funk, Inc. Funk wrote numerous books on vocabulary and etymology aimed at a general audience. He favored descriptive linguistics over linguistic prescription, stating "Let's throw the old textbooks out the window, along with the words correct and incorrect, because there's really no such thing as grammar, but only an ever-changing language pattern formed by everyday usage". In 1942, he co-wrote 30 Days to a more Powerful Vocabulary with Norman Lewis; total sales to 1968 were claimed at 4. 7m. In 1945, he created the Reader's Digest feature "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power". His son Peter continued this from 1962 to 1998.

Works

More photos

• book

  • When the merry-go-round breaks down!

    (From the jacket: With sure skill the author has dipped a ...)

  • "So you think it's new",

    (Hot dog stands, face-lifts, inoculation for smallpox, 12 ...)

  • 30 days to a more powerful vocabulary

    (Pocket Books 569)

  • 25 Magic Steps to Word Power

    (2-2)

  • A nostalgic diary of a trip we took these twenty-five years ago
  • Six weeks to words of power
  • Word origins: An exploration and history of words and language

  • book

  • It might be verse

Politics

As editor, he oversaw the 1936 Literary Digest presidential straw poll, which reported the Republican challenger, Alfred M. Landon, to be far ahead of incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Views

Quotations: In the preface to his Word Origins and Their Romantic Stories (1950), Funk wrote: "I wish that the reader might be encouraged to walk among words as I do, like Alice in Wonderland, amazed at the marvels they hold. "

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• After his death at Montclair, New Jersey, Time wrote: "Wilfred J. Funk was born to words. He reveled in them, ranked them and made a small fortune from them. "

Interests

• While working in publishing, Funk also wrote poetry.

Connections

He married Eleanor McNeal Hawkins on July 29, 1915; they had four children.

Father:

Isaac Kauffman Funk

mother Helen Gertrude Thompson

Son:

Wilfred J. Funk, Jr

Wife:

Eleanor McNeal Hawkins

Partner:

Norman Lewis