Kevin Funk-Discount Rocketry

[Initiator001]

Some of you may have met Kevin Funk at a rocket event in Southern California.

Others of you may have done business with his company, Discount Rocketry.

Some of you may be aware of Kevin from when he was the editor of WARP 9, the NAR Section Newsletter for San Diego. Under his editorship, the WARP 9 won the Rockwell Newsletter Trophy for being the best NAR newsletter in 1993.

His ready wit and opinions made him quite the character. He was a gifted graphic designer.

He was all these things and much more.

Unless you met Kevin, you would not realize that he was confined to a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy.

Ten days ago, Kevin suffered a stroke.

He was brought home from the hospital this past Wednesday.

On Thursday, he passed away.

Kevin was my good friend for sixteen years. He and I spoke regularly in person, by phone or e-mail.

He was responsible for the final design of the NARAM 34 meet patch. I had only given him some general guidelines which Kevin used to create a very whimsical patch.

Kevin could no longer build rockets by the time I met him, but he regularly came out to the launches at Fiesta Island and even up to Mile Square Park. He attended Lucerne launches and NARAM 34.

I am glad I had the opportunity to know him and call him 'friend'.

I will miss him very much.

 

[MissileDaughter]

Sorry to hear about him. I never got the chance to meet him, but the way you describe him, he sounds like a great guy. I wish family and friends best of luck in dealing with their loss. My thoughts are with them.

 

[Gus]

Bob,

I didn't know Kevin but I did business with his company numerous times. Always a true pleasure to deal with.

My condolences to his family, colleagues, and friends.


Gus

 

[Rick James]

I never met Kevin in person, but communicated through e-mail and by phone. He was always willing to help and very professional. He certainly will be missed.

Sad news indeed...

Rick

 

[cls]

wow. thanks for posting this news.

I bought a bunch of stuff from him - mostly Neubauer kits and some plastic models - a bunch of other stuff too. despite the name, the prices weren't really much of a discount, but he always knew what he had in stock and shipped it out right away.

my checkbook pen says "Discount Rocketry".

 

[airwolfe1]

I too had done business with Kevin and like others have indicated, he was a pleasure to do business with. I remember reading some of his articles published in NAR's magazine years ago. He will be missed.

 

[JStarStar]

Sounds like a guy who made the most of his life. Something for all of us to aim for. I too did business with Discount and was well satisfied with their quick service. Condolences to Kevin's family and friends.

 

[Ray Dunakin]

Oh man, another great rocketeer lost! I didn't know Kevin well, but did meet him at several launches back in the late 80's - early 90's. He had the greatest sense of humor, which made Warp 9 a joy to read. The "American Spacemuddling" satire issue is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

 

[Duke79]

Kevin was instrumental in helping me into the hobby about 7 years ago. In fact, I ended up being the person that most of the wives of guys in the SCRG NAR Section (now gone) came to when they wanted to buy their spouses rockets for Christmas, birthdays, etc. And most of those kits were purchased from Kevin at Discount Rocketry. I left the hobby for about five years and when I became active again I was surprised that Kevin had so many out-of-stock items on his web site. Now I know why. I will greatly miss his insights into the hobby and honest answers to my many questions.

 

[user 434]

Kevin Funk was a dear friend and was a mentor to me. He helped me get back into the hobby after returning from Desert Storm in 1991. I am a double born again rocketeer. Here are some articles that Kevin wrote for Space Modeling and Sport Rocketry magazine in the mid 90s. I have yet to see NAR post them in their archives. It would be great to have an archive of every issue made. NAR is a great organization and their are a lot of interesting articles that should be preserved for others to enjoy and for those who have passes away to be remembered:

https://www.gorgerocketclub.com/a-t...-helped-me-become-the-rocketaholic-that-i-am/

 

[cwbullet]

Sad news. Hopefully, he is in a better place.

RIP.

 

[Bat-mite]

Sad news. Hopefully, he is in a better place.

RIP.

Relax, Chuck. It was 13 years ago, and the thread has been dug up.

 

[cwbullet]

Sorry, I missed the dates. Obviously, I did not know him. Is he the same guy who developed the Funk Saucer?

 

[KenRico]

Sorry, I missed the dates. Obviously, I did not know him. Is he the same guy who developed the Funk Saucer?

No, but he loved to fly it ...so it is named in his honor .

Kenny

 

[cwbullet]

Thanks. I will fly mine in his honor also.

 

[fyrwrxz]

Kevin lives on in our memory and Kenny's Funk Saucer is a perfect homage to a mentor and inspiration to all of us who knew him. One of the last things we did together (I was the swing vote for refining Justin Flagg's submission-despite my own designs)) was to finalize the design of the DART emblem the club still flies with today. Hard to believe that was so long ago. Ad Astra, Kevin-you are missed. Major props to KenRico for the Funk Saucer design and production.

 

[user 434]

Cartoons by Kevin Funk called DARTOONS

View attachment 1992 0102_V5N1.pdf

View attachment 1993_0304_v6n2.pdf

View attachment 1993_0708_V6N4.pdf

View attachment DARToons Vol 3 No 4 August 1990 .pdf