News from MTC

David Funk Retires

David Funk, Manager of the Paint Branch Turfgrass Research Facility, aka the “Turf Farm” retired at the end of March 2024 ending an over 25-year relationship with the University of Maryland. David graduated from UMD in 1999 with a BS Degree in Turfgrass Science and worked as Dr. Tom Turner’s Technician until his promotion to Facility Manager in May 2005. Without question one of the most popular staff members within the college, David worked with administrators, researchers, graduate students, student workers, farm staff, and industry representatives to facilitate hundreds of research projects. His fantastic sense of humor and infectious laugh helped manage a complicated work environment involving cutting edge science and some often hard, hot, and dirty field work.

It was some leap of faith for a native of Michigan with a background in construction to enter UMD’s turf program, but great relationships often have unlikely beginnings. That construction experience no doubt helped when our old Cherry Hill Turf Facility closed and the new Paint Branch Facility opened in 2001. All that hard work was almost destroyed when an F3 tornado hit College Park very close to the turf farm later that year on September 24, 2001. This is just one of many great stories David can tell.

Those of you who have attended MTC Field Days might have taken all those straight lines defining plots, rows of signage, and multiple mowing heights for granted. Not to mention the accurate measurements of fertilizer and pesticides and the sprayer calibrations necessary to replicate experiments. All those research articles, theses, and dissertations are a credit to David’s hard work. •