Nevin Funk

Nevin E. Funk, AIEE President, 1943 - 1944, was vice president in charge of engineering at the Philadelphia Electric Company.

Biography

Nevin Elwell Funk vice-president in charge of engineering, Philadelphia (Pa.) Electric Company, was AIEE president from 1943 to 1944. Mr. Funk was born on November 4, 1883, in Bloomsburg, Pa., and graduated from Lehigh University in 1905 with the degree of electrical engineer.

During 1905 and part of 1906 he was entered in the apprentice shop course of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pa. In 1906 he worked as sub-foreman with the New York Central Railroad Company, Berwick, Pa., before joining the faculty of the Georgia School of Technology, Atlanta, Ga., as assistant professor of electrical and experimental engineering for one year.

As assistant foreman and then as assistant superintendent of operation he worked for the Philadelphia Electric Company from 1907 to 1912. He was sales manager of the Sterling Switchboard Company, Camden, N.J., from 1912 to 1914, when he returned to the Philadelphia Electric Company as secretary of the overhead line construction committee. In rapid succession he became combustion engineer in 1914, assistant to the operating engineer in 1915, superintendent of the Schuylkill generating station and assistant operating engineer in 1917. He was operating engineer from 1918 to 1926 when he became assistant chief engineer. He was appointed chief engineer and assistant general manager in 1928 and vice-president in charge of engineering in 1929. In addition he holds executive positions in several utility companies operating in the Philadelphia area. He received the Bronze Medal of the International Jury of Awards in 1926.

He has served on the AIEE committees on synchronous converter tests for 1924-25, standardization for 1924-25, power generation from 1924 to 1935, legislation affecting the engineering profession from 1934 to 1941, transportation from 1934 to 1937, finance from 1935 to 1938, code of principles of professional conduct for 1935-36, and is now a member of the committee on posthumous awards. He held the chairmanship of the Lamme Medal Committee from 1936 to 1938, of the Edison Medal Committee from 1941 to 1943, and of the 1941 winter convention committee. From 1934 to 1938 he was a national director. He is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Franklin Institute.