Isaac Kaufmann Funk (September 10, 1839 – April 4, 1912) was an American Lutheran minister, editor, lexicographer, publisher, and spelling reformer. He was the co-founder of Funk & Wagnalls Company, the father of author Wilfred J. Funk, and the grandfather of author Peter Funk. Wilfred Funk founded his own publishing company "Wilfred Funk, Inc.", and wrote the "Word Power" feature in Reader's Digest from 1945. The feature was carried on by Peter Funk from 1962-1998. Funk & Wagnalls Company published The Literary Digest, The Standard Dictionary of the English Language, and Funk & Wagnalls Standard Encyclopedia,
Funk was born in 1839 in the village of Clifton, Ohio. In 1842, he moved to Springfield, Ohio, where his father John managed the Pennsylvania House.[1] Years later, he attended Wittenberg College (Now Wittenberg University) and Wittenberg Theological Seminary, both in Springfield. Upon his graduation in 1860, he was ordained as a Lutheran pastor, and served pastorates in New York, Indiana, and his home state of Ohio. He made an extensive tour through Europe, northern Africa, and Asia Minor in 1872. Funk was a Prohibitionist and also interested himself in psychical research. He founded the Voice, an organ of the Prohibitionist party.
In 1876 he founded the publishing firm of I.K. Funk & Company, with the help of a Wittenberg classmate, Adam Willis Wagnalls, a lawyer and accountant. In 1890 the name was changed to Funk & Wagnalls Company, to more accurately reflect Wagnalls' partnership. In that same year, Funk published The Literary Digest, a departure from the religious works earlier in his career.[2]
Perhaps Funk's most important achievement was his The Standard Dictionary of the English Language published in 1893. He worked with a team of more than 740 people. His aim was to provide essential information thoroughly and simply at the same time. In order to achieve this he placed current meanings first, archaic meanings second, and etymologies last.[3]
From 1901 until 1906, Funk & Wagnalls compiled the Jewish Encyclopædia. After Funk died in 1912, the publishing house eventually became a subsidiary of Thomas Y. Crowell Co.