Edwin J. Feulner, founder of The Heritage Foundation, has died at the age of 83, the conservative think tank announced in a statement Friday evening, July 18, 2025.
Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chair Barb Van Andel-Gaby honored Feulner, noting his legacy as the organization’s longest-serving president.
“Ed Feulner was more than a leader—he was a visionary, a builder, and a patriot of the highest order. 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,” they said in a joint statement.
Edwin J. Feulner’s leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation transformed the think tank from a small policy shop into America’s powerhouse of conservative ideas and what the New York Times calls “the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis.”
After serving as president from 1977 to 2013, Feulner served as president again for a brief period in 2017. Heritage’s influence grew immensely that year. After President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration, there were a number of conservative policy victories, most notably tax reform, and The Heritage Foundation played a role in all of them. In just its first year, the Trump administration embraced nearly two-thirds of the policy recommendations from Heritage’s five “Mandate for Leadership” publications. “Ed Feulner has made Heritage not just a permanent institution on Capitol Hill, but the flagship organization of the entire conservative movement,” Board Chairman Thomas A. Saunders said in December 2012.
Edwin J. Feulner helped shape conservative politics by turning The Heritage Foundation into a powerhouse that influenced Republican policy for decades. From Reagan to today, his vision has left a lasting mark on the right.
Though Feulner didn’t found Project 2025, the plan comes from the very think tank he built. Some critics have strongly opposed it, calling it a dangerous government overhaul. Still, its roots trace back to the foundation Feulner laid.
