CRC Mourns the Loss of a Conservative Giant—Ed Feulner, Founder of the Heritage Foundation

We are saddened to learn that Dr. Edwin J. Feulner Jr., a good friend and adviser to Capital Research Center, passed away on Friday, July 18, at age 83. As many of you will know, Ed Feulner was a founder of the Heritage Foundation and its longtime president (1977–2013). He can justly be called one of the founding fathers of the modern conservative movement. His steady vision and wise counsel will be sorely missed.

Ed Feulner will be remembered as conservatism’s greatest institution-builder. Modern American conservatism has always had “great communicators” like William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan who used their persuasive writing and speaking skills to convey to the American public a compelling message of faith in American freedom. But what conservatism often lacked in its early days were effective and reliable organizations that could explain and defend the foreign and domestic policies needed to preserve economic freedom, limited government, and a strong national defense. Ed Feulner’s contribution to that mission was all-important. During his long tenure as the Heritage Foundation’s president and trustee (1973–2025), he would develop a series of programs and strategies that completely transformed how public policy “think tanks” operate. He streamlined ways to communicate conservatism’s message, bringing it to the attention of an often hostile media, fumbling congressional lawmakers, and American citizens yearning for clarity and decisiveness. In the process, he helped build a nationwide movement that linked Heritage’s work to other national and state policy organizations, conservative legislators, academics, community leaders, and news media. And by freely sharing with others his decades of expertise in policy formation, coalition-building, and fund-raising Ed Feulner built up an enviable personal reputation. To a vast constituency of Heritage supporters and associates he was known for being serious in his commitments, trustworthy in his promises, and generous in his eagerness to work with others.

Feulner knew no single organization could do it all. In addition to his service at Heritage, Ed Feulner was a trustee of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, chairman emeritus of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, and past president of the Mont Pelerin Society and The Philadelphia Society. He was also a good friend of the Capital Research Center, sharing with us his time and talents. CRC also had the good fortune of drawing upon many Heritage veterans who had occasion to observe and learn from Feulner in action.

• CRC’s most valued trustee, Edwin Meese III, a former U.S. Attorney General, is a Heritage distinguished fellow. As a trusted aide to candidate Ronald Reagan in 1980, Mr. Meese invited Ed Feulner to undertake Heritage’s famous “Mandate for Leadership” policy agenda for the incoming Reagan Administration.
• Willa Johnson, CRC’s founder and its first president (1984–1994), was a Heritage Foundation vice president, as was Terry Scanlon, CRC’s second president (1994–2016).
• Bob Huberty, CRC’s former director of research (1993–2012) was director of Heritage’s Resource Bank and its academic affairs program.

One of Ed Feulner’s guiding organizational principles was “People are policy.” It’s one of ours as well. We are delighted that former CRC trustee Barb Van Andel-Gaby is the current chairman of the Heritage Foundation Board of Trustees. At CRC we know that it takes effective proponents to make sure that good policy ideas get the attention they deserve.

Another Feulner principle is: “The briefcase test.” Ed Feulner made sure that Heritage policy papers were clear and concise. He wanted reporters and members of Congress to slip Heritage papers into their briefcase to read at home or in the office. Heritage papers also needed to be timely. In other words, they had to be published and available before the reporter wrote a story or the member of Congress voted on a controversial bill. Feulner’s emphasis on producing concise and timely information gave new meaning to the shopworn conservative slogan “Ideas have consequences.” Ed Feulner taught us how to organize and coordinate a roll-out of policy recommendations. He knew that if we can get good ideas to those who will use them there is a better chance that what happens in Washington, DC, will benefit all Americans rather than the Beltway special interests.

At Capital Research Center we model ourselves on Ed Feulner’s best practices. For instance,

• CRC accepts no government grants or contracts.
• We sustain our work solely through voluntary private contributions.
• We inform our donors about our mission: to end the nonprofit sector’s dependency on government money; to improve public policies regarding charitable giving; and to celebrate the finest examples of American charity and philanthropy.
• We differentiate ourselves from the many special interest political lobbying organizations that engage in “advocacy” in return for corporate and foundation donor support.
• We seek to expose the corruption of charities and foundations that violate their own charters and ignore the intentions of the donors who support them. We also call out scam “charitable” organizations and activities set up to fill “needs” specifically defined to qualify for taxpayer dollars.

We mourn the passing of Ed Feulner and extend our condolences to his wife, Linda, their children and grandchildren. We honor his life and achievements. Ed always ended his letters with the closing phrase, “Onward.” That’s fitting testimony to the optimism of his convictions.