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Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Onward! A Personal Tribute To Ed Feulner (1941-2025)
Ed Feulner and three of his main intellectual inspirations: G.K. Chesterton, Russell Kirk, and F. A. ... More Hayek painting by Deborah Melvin Beisner. Photo of a copy of the painting in the author's possession Dr. Edwin J. Feulner Jr. was such a significant policy player for over 50 years that, although numerous leaders have already shared memories of how he influenced their lives, there is ample room for further tributes. I first heard of Ed, as he liked to be called, as an immigrant from Argentina in the late 70s. For me Ed was an immense inspiration and later an extremely generous mentor and advisor. I came to the United States in 1978 to study under Dr. Hans F. Sennholz at Grove City College. Sennholz had been a disciple of Ludwig von Mises and, though of course primarily a teacher, was very active as a speaker in conservative free-market circles. He introduced me to the work of Feulner at the Heritage Foundation. I finally met Feulner in September 1980, when I was invited to the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) meeting held at the Hoover Institution. Feulner became a key member of the MPS, occupying several leadership positions. My acquaintance with Ed deepened starting in 1985 when I joined Antony Fisher, the founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London and later founder of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Fisher attempted to hire Feulner to lead the International Center for Economic Policy Studies (ICEPS, today the Manhattan Institute). In 1978, Fisher had been discussing the creation of a New York-based think tank with his friend William J. "Bill" Casey, then a New York lawyer. Just as Feulner was about to start his new job, the recently established Heritage Foundation made him a much better offer, and the rest is history. Although disappointed at not being able to hire him, Fisher remained friends with Feulner and invited him to speak at Atlas events. As in its early days Atlas was located in San Francisco, far from Heritage, at first, I mostly saw Feulner at the meetings of the Mont Pelerin Society. At one of those meetings, in Guatemala, I as a member of the program committee was able to invite Fr. Robert Sirico to speak. Sir John Templeton, who worked closely with Antony Fisher, attended the meeting as well. Following conversations during the meeting, Fr. Sirico decided to establish the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, and both Feulner and I were asked to be on Acton's founding board. At the end of our first Acton board retreat, I drove to the airport together with Ed. When I am with influential people, I ask the same questions: Whom do you always read? Who is doing great work, and should we support them more? And: What is the biggest problem we face today in our battle for freedom? I recall his answer to the latter vividly. It was in the mid 90's and Ed said: 'The young people who are joining the movement have a very shallow and superficial understanding of the principles of the free society. They join our think tanks, but they never went through the process of studying all the main works, the Founding Fathers, the great economists, Mises, Hayek, Friedman, conservative thinkers like Russell Kirk.' Feulner invested his time in organizations such as the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), where he served as a long-standing trustee and chairman. ISI aims to fill the void Feulner spoke of by creating fellowships and academic programs for talented young people. In addition to his role as a think tank leader, Ed Feulner also played a significant role in grant-giving foundations such as the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which supports dozens of policy think tanks. He also served as an inspiration for other foundations. A little-known fact is that Sir John Templeton, in starting his organization, included Feulner on its charter as one of the authors who should serve as a guide for its grants in the realm of free enterprise. The other authors who preceded him are Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, William E. Simon, and Antony Fisher. Ideas never die, and Ed Feulner's views and legacy will continue to inspire many of us. In addition to his leadership at think tanks and philanthropic organizations, Dr. Feulner played a role in various political campaigns. He worked alongside Jack Kemp when he was vice presidential candidate with Bob Dole. He also joined the campaign for Trump's 2016 presidential run. In 2016, at a private meeting with freedom fighters from around the world, Ed told us: 'Trump put one condition, that if we disagree with a policy, like I did on tariffs, we keep our disagreement private.' Dr. Ed Feulner being recognized for his service to the Mont Pelerin Society during the Hong Kong ... More general meeting in 2014. Dr. Allan H. Meltzer (1928-2017), then president of the Society, at his side When in 2014 the Mont Pelerin Society asked me to help choose a gift for Ed Feulner, I had a unique opportunity to learn about what inspired him. Without revealing my intention, I asked him during a private meeting at his office which intellectuals had had the greatest impact on his life. He was quick to answer G.K. Chesterton, Russell Kirk, and F.A. Hayek. An artist who knew him well, Debby Beisner, captured his response in a beautiful painting. Books will be written about Ed Feulner and his legacy. For now, one of his favorite words suffices to remember his spirit: Onward!
Boston Globe
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Edwin Feulner, ‘Heritage Foundation's George Washington,' dies at 83
Weyrich went on to found several other conservative groups. Dr. Feulner ran Heritage from 1977 to 2013, and he became interim head again for a brief period in 2017. Two years ago, during a 50th anniversary celebration at Mount Vernon, the organization's current president, Kevin Roberts, called Dr. Feulner 'the Heritage Foundation's George Washington.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up As Dr. Feulner described it, the foundational principles of Heritage included 'free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values and a strong national defense,' The New York Times reported in 2018. Advertisement The group was in the news during the last presidential election, when Kamala Harris and other Democrats argued that a Heritage document called Project 2025 would become a shadow agenda for Donald Trump's second term. Trump strenuously sought to dissociate himself from the nearly 900-page list of policies, which included doctrinaire right-wing positions on such politically delicate subjects as abortion. Advertisement What rarely came up during the public debate is how Project 2025 belonged to a long tradition of striking success that Heritage has enjoyed in shaping Republican presidential administrations. The document was the latest iteration of the Mandate for Leadership, a wish list for new presidents that Heritage has habitually issued around election cycles since Ronald Reagan took power in 1981. Dr. Feulner explained how the tradition got started in Project 2025's afterword, which he wrote, titled 'Onward!' In the fall of 1979, senior officials of the Nixon and Ford administrations, William E. Simon and Jack Eckerd, told Dr. Feulner that, upon assuming office, they had received no practical guidance on how to institute conservative policies on issues such as free markets, government size, and national security. They added that their briefings came from liberal predecessors or career civil servants who favored the status quo. Dr. Feulner and others at Heritage were early supporters of Reagan's. Long before Reagan beat Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, Heritage decided to spend $250,000 to put together a guidebook for a Reagan presidency. The result, weighing in at 1,093 pages, was distributed by Reagan at his first Cabinet meeting, Ed Meese, later Reagan's attorney general, told the Times in 2018. Dr. Feulner described the document to The Washington Post in 1983 as 'the nuts and bolts of how you make the kind of changes that philosophers and academics have been talking about.' Heritage soon reported that about 60 percent of its suggestions had been acted on by the new administration in its first year in power. The foundation was generally a booster of Republicans, but it also saw its mandate as condemning Republicans when they failed to live up to principle. Advertisement In 1987, after Reagan signed an arms control agreement with the Soviet Union and praised reforms undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachev, Dr. Feulner told the Times that conservatives felt 'Ronald Reagan walked away from them in the end.' He was harsher still on George H.W. Bush, whose tax increases constituted a cardinal sin. Meese discovered what inducements were possible by staying loyal to the cause. After Reagan's second term, Meese joined Heritage as a fellow making an annual salary of $400,000. Soon after George W. Bush assumed office, Dr. Feulner dispensed the ultimate praise. 'More Reaganite than the Reagan administration,' he told the Times. He added that he and Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, spoke a couple times a week. A new measure of the power of the Heritage Foundation came in 2013, when Jim DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina, resigned in order to succeed Dr. Feulner. 'There's no question in my mind that I have more influence now on public policy than I did as an individual senator,' he told National Public Radio in 2013. DeMint was associated with the Tea Party, which Heritage had helped to finance and organize. During the 2016 presidential campaign, as other members of the Republican establishment turned against Trump, DeMint pursued a collaborative relationship with the campaign. When Trump won, Dr. Feulner became head of domestic policy for the incoming president's transition team. Heritage was ready with a database of thousands of loyal conservatives to appoint to political offices. 'By betting long odds on Trump, he succeeded,' Daniel Drezner, then a columnist at The Washington Post, wrote of DeMint. 'Heritage has easily been the most influential think tank in the Trump era.' Advertisement In 2017, during a White House dinner for grassroots leaders of the conservative movement, Dr. Feulner was the only think tank official invited — and he sat next to Trump. 'In some respects, Trump the nonpolitician has an incredible advantage, even over Ronald Reagan,' Dr. Feulner told the Times in 2018. Reagan 'knew there were certain things government couldn't do,' he added. Trump, on the other hand, has had a different mentality: 'Hell, why can't we do that? Let's try it.' Edwin John Feulner Jr. was born in Chicago on Aug. 12, 1941. His father was a self-made success in real estate, getting a college degree in night school and later helping to develop downtown Chicago. His mother, Helen (Franzen) Feulner, doted on Eddie, the eldest son, as her favorite, his three younger sisters later told Lee Edwards, author of 'Leading the Way: The Story of Ed Feulner and the Heritage Foundation,' a biography. He grew up saying grace before meals and serving as an altar boy at a local Catholic church. In 1963, he earned a bachelor's degree in English and business from Regis University, a Jesuit institution in Denver. While there, he experienced an ideological awakening while reading Russell Kirk's book 'The Conservative Mind' and Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn's 'Liberty or Equality.' In his spare time in Washington, he studied by correspondence for a doctorate in political science from the University of Edinburgh. He earned the degree in 1981. As a young man, he was an aide to two Republican members of the House of Representatives: Melvin Laird, from Wisconsin, and Philip Crane, from Illinois. Advertisement The Heritage Foundation was launched by a $260,000 donation from beer baron Joseph Coors. His seed money for Heritage was 'arguably the most consequential that's ever been spent in the world of public policy,' John J. Miller wrote in a remembrance for The Wall Street Journal in 2003. Richard Mellon Scaife, a banking and oil scion, became another major early donor. But wary of charges that Heritage was a tool of a few rich men, Dr. Feulner built a substantial membership list with the help of Richard Viguerie, a conservative marketer. By 1984, The Washington Post described Heritage's annual budget of over $10 million as 'the biggest of any think tank in Washington, left or right.' In 2023, its revenue was $101 million. The Times reported that Dr. Feulner's 2010 salary was $1,098,612. In 2005, The Washington Post found that Heritage swerved from criticizing the government of Malaysia to praising it around the time that a Hong Kong consulting firm cofounded by Dr. Feulner and advised by his wife, Linda, began representing Malaysian companies. In a statement, the Heritage Foundation denied that its reports were influenced by Feulner family business interests or any other external factor. Dr. Feulner's survivors include his wife; his children, Edwin III and Emily V. Lown; and several grandchildren. Flush with power in 1984, Dr. Feulner told the Times about the value of political irrelevance. 'The years in the wilderness gave us the time to work out challenges to the prevailing orthodoxy,' he said. He saw 'intellectual ferment' happening on the left — new ideas, new institutional energy. 'Now we are in the mainstream,' he cautioned, 'and we will suffer for that like the liberals before us.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in
USA Today
21-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Heritage Foundation founder Edwin Feulner dies at 83
Edwin Feulner, founder and longtime president of the influential U.S. conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has died, the foundation announced in a statement. He was 83. Feulner, a Chicago-born political scientist, founded Heritage in 1973 and became its president in 1977, a position he held until 2013. Republican President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. The foundation's statement, released on July 18, did not specify when Feulner died or the cause. Current Heritage president Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby, wrote in a joint statement that Feulner founded Heritage to plant "a flag for truth in a town too often seduced by power." "What started as a small outpost for conservative ideas became - under Ed's tireless leadership - the intellectual arsenal for the Reagan Revolution and the modern conservative movement," they wrote. Heritage continues to deeply impact American conservatism - including being the institution that created Project 2025, widely considered the policy blueprint of President Donald Trump's quick-moving second term. Senator Mitch McConnell, a longtime leader of Congressional Republicans, wrote on social media that Feulner "was a great man" and that "his dedication to promoting peace through strength at the end of the Cold War offers a particularly enduring lesson." Representative Steve Scalise, a Republican and majority leader in the House of Representatives, wrote on social media that Feulner "was one of the architects who built the conservative movement in this country." The Excerpt: Trump, Project 2025 and the plan to remake government (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
Korea Herald
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Asan Institute pays tribute to Heritage Foundation founder Edwin Feulner
The Asan Institute for Policy Studies has expressed deep condolences over the passing of Edwin J. Feulner, founder and former president of The Heritage Foundation, who died Friday at the age of 83. Feulner co-founded The Heritage Foundation in 1973 and served as its president for 37 years, transforming it from a small research center into a powerful force in conservative politics, expressing values such as free markets, limited government and strong national defense. The Asan Institute noted that during the Ronald Reagan administration (1981-89), Feulner's leadership helped shape the conservative policy agenda, earning him the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. He later advised Donald Trump's 2016 transition team and supported the creation of the highly controversial 'Project 2025,' which is widely credited in the US as the playbook to consolidate power in the office of the president and reshape the country with right-wing policies. Feulner was remembered by the Seoul institute as a leading expert on Asia and a lifelong friend to South Korea, having visited the country over 200 times and having forged close relationships with leaders across politics and business here. In 2002, Feulner was awarded the Order of Diplomatic Service Merit by President Kim Dae-jung for his contributions to the US-Korea alliance. 'He will be deeply missed,' the institute said. 'His vision and principles remain at the heart of our shared mission.'
Economic Times
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Heritage Foundation founder Edwin Feulner dies at 83
Agencies Edwin J. Feulner, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and architect of Project 2025, dies at 83 after reshaping U.S. conservative politics. His leadership influenced both Reagan and Trump, leaving a lasting impact on American policy and governance. Edwin Feulner, founder and longtime president of the influential U.S. conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has died at age 83, Heritage said in a statement. The Friday statement did not say when Feulner died or the cause. Feulner, a Chicago-born political scientist, founded Heritage in 1973 and became its president in 1977, a position he held until 2013. Republican President Ronald Regan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989. Current Heritage president Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby, wrote in a joint statement that Feulner founded Heritage to plant "a flag for truth in a town too often seduced by power." "What started as a small outpost for conservative ideas became - under Ed's tireless leadership - the intellectual arsenal for the Reagan Revolution and the modern conservative movement," they wrote. Heritage continues to deeply impact American conservatism - including being the institution that created Project 2025, widely considered the policy blueprint of President Donald Trump's quick-moving second term. Senator Mitch McConnell, a longtime leader of Congressional Republicans, wrote on social media that Feulner "was a great man" and that "his dedication to promoting peace through strength at the end of the Cold War offers a particularly enduring lesson." Representative Steve Scalise, a Republican and majority leader in the House of Representatives, wrote on social media that Feulner "was one of the architects who built the conservative movement in this country."
