The many paths of T. Markus Funk

LAS alumnus honored for noteworthy career
T. Markus Funk
T. Markus Funk, recipient of a 2023 LAS Alumni Achievement Award. 

When you look at a résumé like T. Markus Funk’s (BA, '91, Germanic languages and literatures; BS, '92, business administration), there’s one thing you’ll likely notice right off the bat: the variety.   

From his studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, and Oxford University, where he earned his PhD, to his time working as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, a section chief for the U.S. Department of Justice in post-war Kosovo, a white-collar criminal defense attorney in Denver, a lecturer, and a writer, Funk has tried a little bit of everything. 

“It’s been a really varied career,” said Funk. “I think I’d have a hard time being in an office or doing something that I didn’t consider to be varied and interesting.”

That wide-ranging career has earned him many awards and recognitions over the years, including the 2023 LAS Alumni Achievement Award, which honors alumni who have had impressive impact on their fields and communities.

Funk is one of nine alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences that will receive the college’s annual alumni awards at a celebration in April.

“I’m not typically in the business of getting awards for just doing what I do,” said Funk. “Suffice it to say that it’s a great honor. Having your alma mater recognize you and think that there is something noteworthy about your life or your career is something I would imagine most people would love to experience. I am incredibly grateful for it.”

Funk’s résumé is filled with noteworthy moments and high points, too many to even list, going all the way back to the beginning of his career.

Funk tracked numerous odd, high-profile cases during his time as a federal prosecutor, but the most defining case was “Operation Family Secrets.” Described as the largest mob murder case in U.S. history and characterized by NPR as “one of the most important criminal investigations . . . in American history” —the 1995 movie “Casino” was based on the charged criminal activities—this mammoth case was prosecuted by Mitch Mars, John Scully, and Funk, who was, at the time, the youngest and most junior member of the team. 

“I was lucky to be the third banana on the team,” said Funk. “And that was always the joke, that I was a third banana because I joined the team late. The other two prosecutors had been working on ‘Operation Family Secrets’ for decades, with a team of dedicated FBI agents, but I was welcomed in and had the unbelievable experience of going to trial with this amazing team and carrying the case through to sentencing.”

The 2005 indictment named 14 defendants and included 18 previously unsolved murders, and the three-month trial for five men—Frank “The Breeze” Calabrese Sr., James “Jimmy” Marcello, Joseph “The Clown” Lombardo, Paul “The Indian” Schiro, and Anthony “Twan” Doyle—involved more than 130 witnesses. All five were found guilty of racketeering and related crimes.

“It’s a case that I will never forget,” said Funk.

From there, he took a two-year side-tour to the Department of State, where he helped Kosovo’s prosecutors and court officials access reliable evidence for war crimes prosecutions and fight human trafficking. He also helped the Kosovo legislature rewrite laws.

“Here is a good example of the work we did. When I got to Kosovo, I was told that many Kosovo supreme court justices saw their opinions as personal work product, not public,” said Funk. “In the end, we were able to get those supreme court rulings published, which sounds really mundane, but this small achievement was pretty impactful. It was one of the more important things we did there.”

Funk’s time in public service also received external validation. He has the unique distinction of having received both the Department of Justice’s Attorney General’s Award for the nation’s top trial performance—his work as part of the Family Secrets team was selected from about 9,000 federal jury trials that year—and the U.S. State Department’s Superior Honor Award for service to the country, for his time in post-conflict Kosovo. The ABA also awarded Funk the Frank Carrington Crime Victim Attorney Award, given to one person or organization every few years who has “done the most” for victims of crime in the United States. 

Now, Funk is a partner at the international law firm Perkins Coie and teaches law at various institutions. He primarily conducts internal investigations and handles complex commercial litigation for clients from around the world.

“Private practice has been an exciting continuation of my career, as opposed to a dip,” he said.

And when you look at a career as multifaceted as Funk’s, you might assume he hasn’t seen many dips or roadblocks. According to Funk, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“[Each of] the big markers in my life, getting a job at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, getting admitted to the doctoral program at Oxford, becoming a partner at a major law firm, every one of those things might sound like, ‘Oh, this guy’s had a charmed life,’” he said. “The reality is, I have stumbled and faltered prior to hitting pretty much every one of those markers. I could fill the walls of my office with rejection letters I received for book projects and job applications.”

Funk said it’s his learned ability to bounce back and branch out, regardless of the possibility—or even likelihood—of rejection, that has led him to where he is today. It is also what he describes as his greatest strength.

“I don’t think there’s one particular success,” he said. “I wish I could say I had this crowning achievement other than my awesome wife and twin daughters, but if I look back and say, ‘Well, what have I done?’ I think it’s the ability to do a whole bunch of different things, and to not be hyper-sensitive to failure. It’s not really an achievement, but it’s a mentality.”

It’s a mentality he honed during his time at the University of Illinois, starting from the moment he stepped foot on the Quad to the moment he donned his cap and gown.

“I went to a very small high school, and then all of a sudden, I found myself in a lecture hall with 600 students,” said Funk. “It’s easy to get lost in the sea of people. It takes hard work and a sense of perseverance to distinguish yourself in such an expansive, high-caliber educational institution. I think being flexible and figuring out a way to have an individual educational experience within a large institution like the U of I is something that helped me a lot later in life.”

It’s that personal impact that makes Funk’s upcoming campus visit for the 2023 LAS Alumni Awards ceremony that much more exciting. 

“It’s been over 20 years since I’ve been back on campus,” he said. “So being back, particularly for this exceptional event, makes the visit even more special. I mean, it’s always great to be in an environment of learning, but to be back at the place where it all started for me is tremendous.”

News Source

Dania De La Hoya Rojas, School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics

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