Ivan I. Funtovyi (Kharakternyk)

Marine Ivan Funtovyi (call sign Character) was killed on August 19, 2022, while performing a combat mission near the village of Lozove, Kherson region. The defender received a fatal shrapnel wound to the head. The warrior was 43 years old. Ivan was born in the village of Trudove, Odessa region. He stu at the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, majoring in Law. He worked at the Starokonny market. In peacetime, he held an active civic position. As the president of the NGO "Prioritizing Ukrainian Interregional Associations," he defended the rights of small and medium-sized businesses. Competent and active, purposeful and open, he always had his own point of view and argued it. He was a volunteer for the search platform 911, helping to find dozens of people. On the first day of the full-scale war, February 24, 2022, Ivan, along with other entrepreneurs, organized a volunteer headquarters at the Starokonny market. He helped the military and displaced persons. Later, he joined the 35th Separate Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He commanded a platoon of anti-tank guided missiles. "Don't worry about me. Maybe you've already understood that I'm not afraid... I'm worried about one thing - the future of our children! The main thing in children is family upbringing and education, it's the basis of the future of our Fatherland," Ivan wrote to his wife in August, shortly before his death. "You were not only my husband, but also my teacher in life," said Kristina, the wife of the deceased. On the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, December 6, 2022, the hero's daughter Zlata told the class about her father: "My dad first taught others how to shoot, and then went to defend us himself. And was killed there from a head wound." The serviceman was buried in his native village. At home, Ivan's mother, wife, and daughter, who was 7 years old at the time of her father's death, were waiting for him. On February 1, 2023, a memorial plaque was opened for Ivan Funtovyi at the Starokonny market in Odessa, where he worked for over 20 years.