Robert M. Funk died attempting to save persons from drowning, Port Colborne, Ontario, July 4, 1990. Wind and wave conditions, rougher than usual, combined to create a very strong undertow that threatened swimmers in Lake Erie, including a woman, 27, and a man, 32, who had taken a small dinghy into the water. They were separated from the dinghy and carried out by the undertow. Among those who responded to cries for help was Funk, 25, college student, who was on the beach with members of his family. Funk and three of his brothers immediately entered the water and began to swim toward victims of the undertow, as did others, including two men who rescued the woman with use of their raft. Arriving firefighters ran into difficulty as they attempted rescue activity; one of the firefighters drowned, as did the man who had been with the dinghy. Last seen en route to the victims, Funk submerged and drowned; he was recovered from the lake two days later.
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