Erich Funke was born December 11, 1891, in Rogaetz, Elbe, Germany. He graduated from Realgymnasium (high school with scientific emphasis) in 1912, and attended college at Leipzig, Munich, and Zurich, before taking his Ph.D. at the University of Halle in Germany, 1921. Funke married Lydia Gunzenhauser, and the couple had one son, Thomas, born in 1928. Dr. Funke joined the staff at the University of Iowa as assistant professor of German in 1931 and was made full professor and head in 1937.

In 1953 Dr. Funke began developing the Translingua Script -- a system of numbers he devised for communication which would replace words that require translation between languages. Funke received international recognition for the Translingua Script in 1957. According to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article dated March 11, 1960, the U.S. military expressed an interest in using the script.

Erich Funke retired in 1960 and died November 5, 1974.