Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

FUNDER John Francis BSc MB BS FRACP FRCPA

1911- 2008

John Francis Funder was born, on 1st September 1911, at Semaphore, SA. He was the second son, and one of four children, of John Funder and Florence Othelia, nee O'Brien. He was educated at Rostrevor College, where he won the Tennyson Medal for English. He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in Science, in 1935, and Medicine in 1938. He had an elder brother Brian, who was also a medical graduate, and a sister Ann. Funder was married to Ruth, and they had a son, John, on 2nd January 1941.

He joined the Reserve of Officers of the AAMC in 4 MD on 27th March 1940. He was called up, as a temporary major, on 22nd March 1942. He was posted to 4 Australian Blood and Serum Preparations unit, on 30th April 1942, and seconded to the AIF, on 1st April 1942, in 3 Military District. His promotion to major was confirmed in October 1942. He was posted to 105 AMH on, 25th February 1944, as OC 4 Australian Blood and Serum Preparations Unit. Funder was posted temporarily to be Director Medical Services A Company Land HQ in New South Wales, on 7th December 1944, which later was designated as Branch of AMF, and still then designated as Army HQ on 10th April 1946. He was placed on the Reserve of Officers in 4 MD in April 1946, before being transferred to 3 MD, on 9th April 1947. He was placed on the Retired List on 31st October 1966.

Funder and his family moved to Victoria, in 1949, and were living in Kooyong, Victoria, in 1954, and were still living there in 1980. Funder was appointed Chairman Pathology Services at Prince Henry Hospital Melbourne in 1951. Later John Francis Funder was to become Director of Research at Monash University, a position in which his son was to follow him. He was a member of the Australian Medical Association. He wrote a significant paper, with AV Jackson, entitled; "North Queensland Tick Typhus; A Comparative Study of the Rickettsia with that of Murine Typhus.  The article was published in the Medical Journal of Australia, August 24, 1946. Funder’s son, John Watson Funder AC BA MD BS PhD FRACP, was born in Adelaide, on 2nd January 1941, went on to be a senior Medical Researcher, at the Baker Institute, Victoria, before joining the Prime Ministers Department.  Funder and Ruth had two more children a son, Michael, born on 13th November 1942, and a daughter, Mary Cecelia, born on 18th March 1944. John Francis Funder died on 13th May 2008.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears III: Medical Practitioners South Australia, who Served in World War 2. 

Swain, Jelly, Verco, Summers. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2019. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD