Shortly before the U.S. entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson favored Funston to head any American Expeditionary Force (AEF).
His intense focus on work led to health problems, first with a case of indigestion in January 1917, followed by a fatal heart attack at the age of 51 in San Antonio, Texas.

In the moments before his death, Funston was relaxing in the lobby of The St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, listening to an orchestra play The Blue Danube waltz.
 After commenting, "How beautiful it all is," he collapsed from a massive painful heart attack (myocardial infarction) and died.
He was holding six-year-old Inez Harriett Silverberg in his arms.

Douglas MacArthur, then a major, had the unpleasant duty of breaking the news to President Wilson and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker.
As MacArthur explained in his memoirs, "had the voice of doom spoken, the result could not have been different.
The silence seemed like that of death itself.
You could hear your own breathing."

Funston lay in state at both the Alamo and the City Hall Rotunda in San Francisco.
The latter honor gave him the distinction of being the first person to be recognized with this tribute, with his subsequent burial taking place in  San Francisco National Cemetery.
After his death, his position of AEF commander went to General John Pershing, who as commanding general of the Punitive Expedition in 1916 had been Funston's subordinate.
The Lake Merced military reservation (part of San Francisco's coastal defenses) was renamed Fort Funston in his honor, while the training camp built in 1917 next to Fort Riley in Kansas (which became the second-largest World War I camp) was named Camp Funston.
San Francisco's Funston Park and Funston Avenue are named for him, as is Funston Avenue in his hometown of New Carlisle, Ohio, and Funston Avenue near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
In Hawaii, Funston Road at Schofield Barracks and Funston Road at Fort Shafter are named after him.
Funston's daughter, and his son and grandson, both of whom served in the United States Air Force, were later interred with him.
Shortly before the U.S. entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson favored Funston to head any American Expeditionary Force (AEF). His intense focus on work led to health problems, first with a case of indigestion in January 1917, followed by a fatal heart attack at the age of 51 in San Antonio, Texas.
In the moments before his death, Funston was relaxing in the lobby of The St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, listening to an orchestra play The Blue Danube waltz.  After commenting, "How beautiful it all is," he collapsed from a massive painful heart attack (myocardial infarction) and died. He was holding six-year-old Inez Harriett Silverberg in his arms.
Douglas MacArthur, then a major, had the unpleasant duty of breaking the news to President Wilson and Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. As MacArthur explained in his memoirs, "had the voice of doom spoken, the result could not have been different. The silence seemed like that of death itself. You could hear your own breathing."
Funston lay in state at both the Alamo and the City Hall Rotunda in San Francisco. The latter honor gave him the distinction of being the first person to be recognized with this tribute, with his subsequent burial taking place in  San Francisco National Cemetery. After his death, his position of AEF commander went to General John Pershing, who as commanding general of the Punitive Expedition in 1916 had been Funston's subordinate. The Lake Merced military reservation (part of San Francisco's coastal defenses) was renamed Fort Funston in his honor, while the training camp built in 1917 next to Fort Riley in Kansas (which became the second-largest World War I camp) was named Camp Funston. San Francisco's Funston Park and Funston Avenue are named for him, as is Funston Avenue in his hometown of New Carlisle, Ohio, and Funston Avenue near Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. In Hawaii, Funston Road at Schofield Barracks and Funston Road at Fort Shafter are named after him. Funston's daughter, and his son and grandson, both of whom served in the United States Air Force, were later interred with him.
Frederick Funston