Rich Funke (born January 30, 1949) is an American journalist and politician who represented the 55th district of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 2015 until 2020. Funke is a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

who was elected in November 2014 when he defeated Democratic incumbent Ted O'Brien. Prior to his election, Funke had for almost 40 years been a news anchor and sports director for

WHEC-TV WHEC-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Rochester, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on East Avenue in Downtown Rochester and a transmitter on Pinnacle Hill in B ...

, the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

affiliate station in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

Media career

Funke is a former radio disk jockey, radio and television journalist and television sports reporter and news anchor in

Rochester, NY Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in Wes ...

. He began his career in broadcasting at

WBTA WBTA (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a soft adult contemporary format. Licensed to Batavia, New York, United States, the station is the only one directly serving Genesee County and in general serves the area between Rochester and Buf ...

Batavia, New York Batavia is a city in and the county seat of Genesee County, New York, United States. It is near the center of the county, surrounded by the Town of Batavia, which is a separate municipality. Batavia's population as of the 2020 census was 15,6 ...

. From there he worked as a news reader and reporter at

WHAM Wham! was a British pop music duo. Wham may also refer to: Places * Wham, North Yorkshire, England, a hamlet in the Yorkshire Dales, United Kingdom * Wham, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States Stations * WHAM (AM), a talk radio ...

in Rochester before moving in 1972 to WAXC a top 40 station as its news director. After WAXC he was brought on as a sports director at

in 1974. After a stint at

WTVJ-TV WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (chan ...

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

from 1980 to 1981 he returned to Rochester and his previous position at WHEC-TV. In 2005, Funke became the primary anchor of the evening news at 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m. at WHEC-TV before retiring in 2012 as one of the main faces of the station.

Political career

In March 2014, Funke announced his candidacy for the New York State Senate in Senate District 55 against incumbent Democrat Ted O'Brien. Funke defeated O'Brien, 54,874 votes to 38,624. Funke ran for re-election unopposed in 2016. In 2018, however, he was a top Democratic target, ultimately defeating Democrat Jen Lunsford by a margin of 52%-48%. In December 2019, Funke announced that he would not seek re-election the following year.

Awards and honors

Funke received the James H. Ellery Memorial Award for Television for his coverage of the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, a ...

in 1977 and 1986. Funke was inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame in December, 2012 shortly after his retirement. On December 27, 2014, the Rochester Lancers of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

inducted Funke into the Rochester Lancers Wall of Fame as one of Rochester's "soccer pioneers". Funke was the television play-by-play announcer for the original Rochester Lancers of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

References

External links

1949 births Living people Republican Party New York (state) state senators People from Batavia, New York American television journalists Adelphi University alumni American male journalists Journalists from New York (state) 21st-century American politicians {{NewYork-NYSenate-stub