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 who was elected in November 2014 when he defeated

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **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, the NBC affiliate station in Rochester, New York.

Media career

Funke is a former radio disk jockey, radio and television journalist and television sports reporter and news anchor in Rochester, NY. He began his career in broadcasting at WBTA in

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 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 WHEC-TV 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 ...

in Miami, Florida 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 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 Rochester Lancers may refer to: * Rochester Lancers (2015), a semi-professional soccer team that competes in the National Premier Soccer League * Rochester Lancers (MASL), an indoor soccer team that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League 2 * Roch ...

of the Major Arena Soccer League 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

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