Edwin J. Feulner Jr., the conservative strategist who transformed the Heritage Foundation from an unknown policy group into Washington’s most powerful right-wing think tank, died Friday at age 83.
Feulner co-founded Heritage with Paul Weyrich in 1973 and ran the organization from 1977 to 2013, then briefly again in 2017. He created a new model for conservative policy work that moved beyond traditional think tank research to directly influence congressional votes on major legislation.
Heritage produced “backgrounders” that distilled policy research into easily digestible summaries for busy conservatives and their staff. The approach proved revolutionary for conservative influence in Washington politics.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts called Feulner “the Heritage Foundation’s George Washington” during the organization’s 50th anniversary celebration at Mount Vernon two years ago.
Feulner described Heritage’s core mission as advancing “free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values and a strong national defense.” Under his leadership, Heritage grew from a startup operation into a conservative powerhouse with $101 million in annual revenue by 2023.
The organization gained national attention during the 2024 election when Democrats attacked Project 2025, Heritage’s 900-page policy blueprint for the second Trump administration. Feulner co-wrote the document’s afterword titled “Onward!” and met with President Trump before the election to discuss the project’s recommendations.
Project 2025 continued Heritage’s “Mandate for Leadership” tradition that began with Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
In 1979, senior officials from the Nixon and Ford administrations told Feulner they had received no practical guidance on implementing conservative policies when they took office.
Heritage spent $250,000 developing a 1,093-page guidebook for Reagan’s presidency. Reagan distributed the document at his first cabinet meeting, and Heritage later reported that about 60 percent of its recommendations were implemented during Reagan’s first year in office.
The document was “the nuts and bolts of how you make the kind of changes that philosophers and academics have been talking about,” Feulner explained later.
Heritage’s influence expanded when Senator Jim DeMint resigned from the Senate in 2013 to succeed Feulner as president.
When Trump won the presidency, Feulner headed domestic policy for the transition team. Heritage maintained a database of thousands of conservative candidates for political appointments. Washington Post columnist Daniel Drezner wrote: “By betting long odds on Trump, he succeeded. Heritage has easily been the most influential think tank in the Trump era.”
At a 2017 White House dinner for conservative grassroots leaders, Feulner was the only think tank official invited and sat next to President Trump.
Feulner praised Trump’s unorthodox, anti-establishment approach in 2018.
“In some respects, Trump the nonpolitician has an incredible advantage, even over Ronald Reagan,” he said. Reagan “knew there were certain things government couldn’t do” while Trump had a different mentality: “Hell, why can’t we do that? Let’s try it.”
Born Edwin John Feulner Jr. in Chicago on August 12, 1941, he grew up in a Catholic household where his mother Helen doted on him as her favorite child. His father developed downtown Chicago real estate after earning his college degree in night school.
Feulner earned a bachelor’s degree in English and business from Regis University, a Jesuit institution in Denver, in 1963. He experienced his ideological awakening reading Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind” and Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn’s “Liberty or Equality.” He later earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Edinburgh in 1981.
Before founding Heritage, Feulner worked as a congressional aide to Republican Representatives Melvin Laird of Wisconsin and Philip Crane of Illinois.
Beer baron Joseph Coors provided Heritage’s founding donation of $260,000. Wall Street Journal writer John J. Miller later called Coors’ investment “arguably the most consequential that’s ever been spent in the world of public policy.” Banking heir Richard Mellon Scaife became another major early donor.
By 1984, The Washington Post reported Heritage had the largest annual budget of any think tank in Washington at over $10 million. The Times reported Feulner’s 2010 salary was $1,098,612.
Heritage President Roberts and Board Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby praised Feulner’s leadership philosophy in a statement.
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.’ 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. And we still remember his adjuration to never be complacent or discouraged: ‘In Washington, there are no permanent victories and no permanent defeats.’
Heritage Foundation did not specify where Feulner died or the cause of death. He is survived by his wife Linda, children Edwin III and Emily V. Lown, and several grandchildren.
Roberts and Van Andel-Gaby pledged to continue his mission: “Thank you for showing us what one faithful, fearless man can do when he refuses to cede ground in the fight for self-governance.”