SHIRLEY, Ill. – Eugene D. Funk Jr. (1900-1995), president of pioneering corn hybrid company Funk Bros. Seed Co. from 1944 to 1968, was honored with a stone-mounted plaque acknowledging his contributions to the evolution of hybrid seed corn technology. Organized by his descendants, the Aug. 8 ceremony honoring the son of early hybrid developer E.D. Funk Sr. was well attended on a beautiful summer day at Funk Family Farms in rural McLean County.

“Funk family members and employees, Funk Farms alumni, representatives of the McLean County History Museum and attendees of the Funk-Stubblefield family reunion were among all the people in attendance,” said Bill Case, a Funk family historian and tour coordinator for Funk’s Prairie Home, who has been employed by the Funk family since 1990. Greg Koos, Illinois State Historical Society board member and director emeritus of the Illinois State History Museum in Springfield, was also among those who traveled to be part of the dedication.

“It was a very impressive ceremony with Duncan Funk, the grandson of E.D. Funk and son of Eugene Funk Jr. leading the dedication,” said Case, who offered a blessing prior to the ceremony. “A lot of people came up to talk about ‘Mr. Gene,’ as we called him when I started here in 1990. He was the head of the family, and I knew him for five years.

“The dedication was a (confirmation) of everything I knew about the man personally and from everyone else who knew him. We spoke about the stellar quality of his character and everything he did for Funk Brothers.”

Bud Lewis, 101, and Gordon Bittner, who is in his 90s, former employees of Mr. Gene, were the guests of the hour for the dedication. Lewis talked about how his family came to Funk’s Grove around the time of the Great Depression and found work with the Funk family.

Built during the Civil War after family patriarch Isaac Funk established the farm in 1824, Funk’s Prairie Home has been a tourism attraction that has hosted school and group field trips since 1971. The 25,000-acre farm was originally worked by E.D. Funk and his 14 German immigrant cousins. E.D. Funk fathered four children, including Eugene Funk Jr, three additional sons and four daughters. Mr. Gene Funk, E.D.’s firstborn son, became president of Funk Bros. Seed Co. after his father’s passing.

E.D. Funk (1867–1944) was the grandson of Isaac Funk, one of McLean County’s earliest settlers and arguably its greatest producer of livestock, according to the McLean County Historical Society: “The Funks’ success in livestock led them to consider how they might achieve similar advances with corn. Eugene studied science for three years at Yale, but chose to spend his fourth year in Europe, where the genetic theories of Darwin and Mendel were influencing scientific practices in plant breeding.

“When he returned at the age of 25, breeding corn became his life’s work. His early successes resulted in the formation of the Funk Bros. Seed Co., which commercially produced the seed he and its research department, in partnership with the University of Illinois, developed and improved for many years.”

Funk and his cousins created their popular variety of seed corn by crossing a Minnesota strain with an early-maturing Illinois strain, which resulted in a 20 bushel per acre yield boost over its parents’ production history. It was soon grown around the world, leading to the establishment of Funk Bros. Seed Co. in 1903.

Today, Funk Family Farms remains a cattle, corn and beans operation, with most of the original 25,000 acre farm still in the control of the Funk family. Family members serve on the company’s board of directors, overseeing the hiring of the past three farm managers from outside the family. As part of the farm’s 2021-22 push into agritourism, a retail storefront, Funk Farms Premium Beef, was opened to provide farm-fresh beef to consumers directly from Funk feedlots.

“Funk Farms is still such an important operation,” Case said. “What a legacy of American agriculture.”

Funk’s Prairie Home and Gem and Mineral Museum (the latter founded by E.D. Funk’s son Lafayette Funk in 1975) is at 10875 Prairie Home Lane near Shirley. The entrance to Research Acres, where Gene Funk Jr. and other family members’ monuments are arranged in a “walk of fame,” is approximately 1/4th-mile south of the homestead. Funk Farms Premium Beef is just a little further south of Research Acres and Prairie Home.