[5][6] Several tax-efficient trusts Funk created for his wife were the subject of dispute with the Tax Office, ending in a Court of Appeals decision in 1950.
[7] His son Wilfred J. Funk, Jr was killed in August 1943 in Operation Cottage, the assault on Kiska, Alaska in an engagment with Japanese forces in World War II.
in The New Yorker in 1930, whose opening lines were:[11] Mastoids, sinuses, and such Bother children overmuch In 1932, he publicized his firm's dictionary with a list of the ten most beautiful words in the English language, having regard for both sound and meaning.
[12] dawn, hush, lullaby, murmuring, tranquil, mist, luminous, chimes, golden, melody In 1934, he listed the "ten modern Americans who have done most to keep American jargon alive":[13] Sime Silverman, H. L. Mencken, Tad Dorgan, Walter Winchell, Arthur "Bugs" Baer, Ring Lardner, Damon Runyon, Gelett Burgess, George Ade, and Gene BuckIn 1937, he listed the ten most overworked words:[2][14] okay, terrific, lousy, definitely, racket, gal, honey, swell, contact, impact He received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1932 from Oglethorpe University.
[16] The Digest polled its readers regarding the outcome of the 1936 presidential election, and put Alf Landon at 56%; in fact he got only 36% of the vote.
[18] He had not questioned the poll's fundamentally flawed methodology, and derided George Gallup of AIPO as "our fine statistical friend".