Photo credit: California Turtle and Tortoise Club – Orange County Chapter
Richard S. Funk completed a master’s degree in zoology with a thesis in herpetology. He then earned his DVM at The Ohio State University. Dr. Funk next worked at a busy private practice in Wilmington, North Carolina, treating companion pets and exotics before serving as Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, where he taught clinical courses and was in charge of the exotics service. Rich then moved to the Tampa, Florida area where he owned an exclusively exotics house call practice. He next moved to the Phoenix, Arizona area and joined a VCA practice treating companion pets and exotics. Dr. Funk later owned his own practice, which offered relief work, house calls, and consults, and he served as an Adjunct Professor of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at Midwestern University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Funk was very active in the Association of Reptile and Amphibian Veterinarians (ARAV), having served as the 2003-2004 President and co-chairman of the Legislation and Welfare Committee. He has also served on the ARAV publications editorial board and he organized and led a number of wet labs at ARAV annual conferences. Dr. Funk had a number of veterinary publications, primarily on reptiles, including chapters in all three volumes of the Mader Reptile Medicine and Surgery texts. His research interests were focused on reptile viruses and on the health and welfare of captive Galapagos tortoises.
The reptile community lost Dr. Funk in August 2022. Please visit the American Veterinary Medical Association website for a brief In Memoriam.
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