Edwin J. Feulner, a visionary conservative leader and founding force behind the Heritage Foundation, passed away Friday at the age of 83, leaving behind a profound legacy of patriotic service and intellectual leadership that helped shape the modern American Right.
Feulner co-founded the Heritage Foundation in 1973 and served as its longest-tenured president from 1977 to 2013, and again from 2017 to 2018. Under his leadership, Heritage evolved from a modest policy shop into the most influential conservative think tank in Washington, driving policy debates and equipping lawmakers with bold, pro-freedom solutions.
Architect of Conservative Resurgence
Feulner was instrumental in introducing a new model of conservative advocacy—one that emphasized actionable policy proposals and swift, strategic engagement with legislators. This model helped drive the Reagan Revolution, grounding it in sound, market-oriented policy that championed liberty, free enterprise, and limited government.
His leadership fortified Heritage’s reputation as a conservative policy powerhouse and created a playbook that has inspired generations of center-right policymakers, scholars, and activists.
Legacy in Action: Project 2025 and Beyond
Even after stepping down from daily leadership, Feulner remained an influential voice in conservative strategy. He co-authored the afterword to Project 2025, a sweeping initiative aimed at preparing principled policy and personnel for a potential second Trump administration. The project underscores his lifelong dedication to rebuilding constitutional government and countering the excesses of the administrative state.
Feulner’s continued involvement in national policy included advising President Donald Trump during both the 2016 transition and leading into the 2024 election cycle. His counsel reflected the same clarity and conviction that defined his decades of work on behalf of the American people.
“Ed Feulner was more than a leader—he was a visionary, a builder, and a patriot of the highest order,” said Heritage President Kevin Roberts and Board Chair Barb Van Andel-Gaby. “His unwavering love of country and his determination to safeguard the principles that made America the freest, most prosperous nation in human history shaped every fiber of the conservative movement—and still do.”
“Whether he was bringing together the various corners of the conservative movement at meetings of the Philadelphia Society, or launching what is now the Heritage Strategy Forum, Ed championed a bold, ‘big-tent conservatism,'” Roberts and Andel-Gaby wrote. “He believed in addition, not subtraction. Unity, not uniformity. One of his favorite mantras was ‘You win through multiplication and addition, not through division and subtraction.’ His legacy is not just the institution he built, but the movement he helped grow—a movement rooted in faith, family, freedom, and the founding. “
“His ‘Feulnerisms’ still resonate in the halls of Heritage—where they will always be remembered. ‘People are policy,’ for instance— the heartbeat of his mission—to equip, encourage, and elevate a new generation of conservative leaders, not just in Washington, but across this great country,” the statement continued. “And we still remember his adjuration to never be complacent or discouraged: ‘In Washington, there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats.'”
Heritage did not disclose Feulner’s cause of death.
