Thomas Christopher Funk, formerly of Provincetown and Wellfleet, died on March 11, 2024 surrounded by his family at Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The cause of death was multiple organ cancer accelerated by Covid. He was 81.
The son of Margaret Lester Christopher and Joseph Emil Funk, Tom was born in Fort Jackson, S.C. on Aug. 16, 1942. He grew up in Metuchen, N.J. with his older brother, Joseph, and his younger brother, Paul.
Tom was an industrious and imaginative boy. When he was 10, he and his friend Miles Merwin started a small business, caring for neighbors’ lawns, delivering newspapers, and selling lemonade. They used their profits for sweets and movie matinees.
At Metuchen High School, Tom gravitated to art classes, particularly painting. He and his best friend and fellow artist Flavia Pantaleoni were declared king and queen of their senior prom in 1960.
Tom went to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he founded the Dance Club, specializing in folk dance, and participated in the ski, sail, and film clubs. He graduated with a B.F.A. in painting in 1964 and spent the following academic year in Rome, Italy at L’Accademia Di Belle Arti to study painting, art history, and Italian literature; he also attended La Scuola di Dante Alighieri to study Italian.
When he returned from Italy, he studied painting and glassblowing at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, and in 1967 he received an M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
During the four years before starting his 28-year career as an instructor of humanities and art at Ocean County College in Toms River, N.J., Tom exhibited his work in graphics, photography, and painting at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, the Galleria D’Urso in Rome in 1965, and the Detroit Institute of Art in 1966, among other venues.
His commitment to teaching was recognized by the college when he was awarded certificates for loyal service after 20 years and for honorable service “in recognition of significant contributions to the college” shortly before his retirement.
Tom had a passion for travel, especially to Europe, with Rome his favorite city. He loved staying in a small hotel in the Campo de Fiori because it was always surrounded by the flower vendors who set up their colorful stalls in the plaza.
Tom stayed in touch with his fellow RISD graduates, enjoying many Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve gatherings with them. Often the events were costumed affairs, and Tom was always willing to sew, glue, or pin a costume together for the festive soirées. In addition to epic costumes for himself and others, he often produced deliciously imaginative appetizers or desserts, and he always lent a hand at cleanup time.
In January 1981, Tom bought a house on Cottage Street in Provincetown and spent many summer vacations fixing, constructing, painting, refurbishing, and decorating the house and barn which, during the 1950s and ’60s, was the painting studio of Franz Kline. Though more than six feet tall, Tom found ways to maneuver around the small cottage spaces without bumping into low overhead beams. A fellow six-foot friend said, “We adapted, like being on a small sloop.”
Tom loved living in Provincetown, especially the people and the food. His favorite meal was fish parmigiana at the Mayflower on Commercial Street, prefaced and followed by many stops to chat with friends along the way. There wasn’t a flea market or yard sale Tom would pass up. The Cottage Street house was furnished with decorative items he found on those outings.
After his retirement in the mid-1990s, Tom moved to Provincetown. He and his longtime partner, Truro Town Manager and former Wellfleet Assistant Town Manager Rex Peterson, lived for a time on Cottage Street. In 2001, Tom and Rex moved to Wellfleet, where Tom was able to indulge his pleasure in gardening, cooking, and entertaining.
Rex died in 2014, and in 2015, Tom bought a condo at Palm Aire in Pompano Beach, Fla. for winter getaways.
Tom met Carlos Leonardi during a trip to Italy in 2020. Carlos accompanied Tom when he returned to Florida and subsequently cared for him during his illness. They married on Tom’s birthday in 2023.
Tom is survived by his husband and caretaker, Carlos Alberto Leonardi of Fort Lauderdale and Wellfleet; his brother, Paul, of Hopewell, N.J.; many nieces, nephews, and cousins; and his loyal canine companion, Jasmine.
A private family memorial with burial of Tom’s ashes took place in Oakdale Cemetery in Wellfleet on Aug. 31, 2024.
