Heritage Foundation founder Edwin Feulner dies at 83
, 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.
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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.
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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."
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