William Delbert Funkhouser,
zoologist, son of the Rev. Hugh Clark and Laura (Mobley) Funkhouser, was born
on March 13, 1881, at Rockport, Indiana. He was educated in the public schools
of Indianapolis and at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, where he earned
a B.A. in 1905, graduating a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He taught biology and
coached at the Brazil, Indiana, high school before entering Cornell University
in 1908. While earning an M.A. degree in 1912 and Ph.D. in 1916 in zoology, he
taught high school in Ithaca, New York. As a graduate student, Funkhouser
published articles on the taxonomy of the Membracidae, or tree hoppers, a
family of small leaping insects. At that time he began a lifelong, worldwide
correspondence with others in the field. In 1918 he became professor of zoology
and department head at the University of
Kentucky. In 1925 he was named dean of the graduate school and in
1927 professor of anthropology, having cofounded the Department of Anthropology
and Archaeology.
Funkhouser was described in Entomological
News in 1974 as "the most outstanding student and authority on the
family Membracidae" from 1918 to 1948. Of his 327 publications, his major
work was Fascicle I -- Membracidae. Funkhouser was secretary-treasurer
of the Southeastern Athletic Conference from its establishment in 1932 until
his death. A popular teacher and public speaker, he was a Congregationalist, a
Republican, a Rotarian, and a member of numerous professional organizations.
Funkhouser married Josephine H.
Kinney, a Cornell student, on June 29, 1910. He died of lung cancer on June 9,
1948, at his home in Lexington,
Kentucky, and was buried in the Lexington Cemetery.
CARL B. CONE, Entry Author
Selected
Sources from UK Libraries:
Funkhouser, W. D., and William S. Webb. Ancient Life in Kentucky; a Brief Presentation of the Paleontological Succession in Kentucky Coupled with a Systematic Outline of the Archaeology of the Commonwealth. Frankfort, Ky.: Kentucky Geological Survey, 1928. Print. Geologic Reports (Kentucky Geological Survey). Ser. 6 v. 34.
Funkhouser, W. D., and William S. Webb. Archaeological Survey of Kentucky. Lexington, Ky.: U of Kentucky, Dept. of Anthropology and Archaeology, 1932. Print. The University of Kentucky. Reports in Archaeology and Anthropology. v. 2.
Wright, Albert Hazen, W. D. Funkhouser, Sherman C. Bishop, and Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. A Biological Reconnaissance of the Okefinokee Swamp in Georgia : The Reptiles. Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1915. Print.
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