Dr. Edwin John Feulner Jr.

Dr. Edwin John Feulner, Jr., 83, died peacefully on July 18, 2025, surrounded by his loving family. Ed was first and foremost, a devoted and loving husband to Linda and the proud patriarch to his family… father to EJ and Emily, grandfather to Betsy, Sara and Wills and father-in-law to Wendy and Chris. He was a caring son, brother, uncle, cousin, and godfather. He was a faithful and devoted Catholic. Ed was a visionary leader in the United States and within the international community where he helped lead the conservative movement for over 50 years. He was a deeply caring, generous, and passionate man-known to all as ""the eternal optimist."" Ed's warmth, sense of humor and optimism brought light to countless lives.

Ed was born on August 12, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois to Edwin John Feulner, Sr., and Helen Joan Feulner where his father owned a commercial real estate company. Ed was known as ""Bud,"" when he was a boy and spent his youngest years in Chicago until his family moved to Elmhurst, Illinois when he was 9 years old. Ed cherished his role as older brother to Mary Ann, Joan and Barbara and they remained extremely close throughout his life. He attended school at Immaculate Conception where he was also an altar boy at the affiliated church. During these childhood years, he developed his strong work ethic while working on the school yearbook and at the local camera shop. He grew up loving the railroad and was thrilled to work at the local Illinois Central, where he was given the exciting task of throwing the rail switches which entailed precise timing.

Ed was always proud to tell people that he and his son, EJ, attended a Jesuit college– Regis University – in Denver, Colorado, where later in life, he served on the Board of Directors. He was instrumental in arranging Pope John Paul II's visit to the campus with President Clinton in 1993. Former Regis University President, Father Michael Sheeran, SJ, remains a close family friend to this day. Ed has maintained friendships with many of his 1963 classmates for more than 60 years.

While at Regis, Ed was very active – he was elected sophomore class treasurer, junior class secretary and in his senior year student body president. He also served as vice president of Alpha Kappa Psi, the professional business fraternity, signaling an intention to learn all he could about the world of business. It was at Regis where Ed read Barry Goldwater's, Friedrich Hayek's and Milton Friedman's works and quickly began to embrace the conservative free-market capitalism and individual liberty mindset. While in college, he further developed his generous spirit while volunteering for organizations both on and off campus. One of his favorite memories of his time at Regis was when he and fellow students spent two months traveling through Western Europe with Father Maginnis. It was on this trip that the impact of communism hit him. He was excited about visiting historic Berlin on his birthday, August 12,1961, when that leg of the trip was abruptly cancelled. The Soviets had begun building the Berlin Wall.

Ed's never ending intellectual curiosity resulted in him earning his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. A lifelong learner, Ed pursued further graduate studies at the London School of Economics (where his grandson, Wills recently followed in his footsteps, attending their summer program) and Georgetown University and received honorary degrees from more than twenty colleges and universities around the world.

Ed began shaping the Conservative movement in the mid-1960s when he served as public affairs fellow for the Center for Strategic Studies (now the Center for Strategic and International Studies) and at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he wrote on subjects such as economic trade embargoes with the Soviet Union. From there he became an assistant to Rep. Melvin R. Laird (R-Wisc.) and later served as an advisor to Laird when he became Defense Secretary under Richard Nixon. Next, Ed moved to Capitol Hill and served as Chief of Staff to Rep. Phil Crane from the 8th District of Illinois and simultaneously as the Founding Director of the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1973, Ed, along with friends Paul Weyrich and Joseph Coors, founded a small public policy think tank and named it The Heritage Foundation. Ed continued his work for Phil Crane while also steering the young organization, eventually becoming President in 1977. While working from a small, rented townhouse with a staff of eight others, Ed's first breakthrough became known as the ""briefcase test,"" where all policy papers and recommendations must be concise and digestible so lawmakers on Capitol Hill would actually read and later act on them. The second breakthrough was Ed's decision to push out policy papers before votes were taken so that policymakers would be accurately informed on the issues before voting – a seemingly obvious concept now but revolutionary at the time. In 1981, under Ed's guidance, The Heritage Foundation published a comprehensive roadmap for the incoming Reagan Administration called Mandate for Leadership, which laid out more than 2,000 policy changes the new administration should implement to bring Conservative ideals back to the Government and the people. This twenty-volume, 3,000-page manual was well received by the new administration, and in fact 60% of the Mandate's recommendations were implemented by President Reagan and his staff. This and other major successes in the 1980s firmly planted Heritage's flag on Capitol Hill and cemented its reputation as ""the beast of [all think tanks], the almost mythical Heritage Foundation…the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis,"" as described by The New York Times.

Over the next 45 years, under Ed's guidance, Heritage grew from a nine-person staff in a rental office with a budget of a few million dollars into a $100 million per year juggernaut with a Heritage-owned headquarters building that takes up a full city block in the shadow of the Capitol. Ed is widely credited with establishing The Heritage Foundation as the most dynamic and far-reaching public policy research organization in the world.

Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, Foreign Ministers, global business leaders, Prime Ministers, Ambassadors and myriad other public figures worked directly with Ed to implement effective public policies based on the principles he held dear: free enterprise, limited government, individual liberty, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

In 1989, President Reagan honored Ed by awarding him the Presidential Citizens Medal for his work as ""a leader of the conservative movement."" He was named one of the ""Seven Most Powerful Conservatives in Washington"" by Forbes magazine. He was also featured on Fox News Sunday as the program's ""Power Player of the Week."" The Daily Telegraph in London named him one of the ""100 Most Influential American Conservatives,"" and GQ magazine included him in its list of the ""50 Most Powerful People in D.C."" He also appeared in the Washingtonian's list of the ""45 Who Shaped Washington.""

Ed served on the Board of Directors of St. James School, an Episcopal boarding school in Maryland, from which his son, EJ, graduated in 1990. That same year, Ed delivered a rousing commencement address inspired by the recent fall of the Berlin Wall. As a symbol of his enduring love of freedom, he proudly distributed actual pieces of the fallen wall to each graduating student.

He served as the Chairman of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and President of The Mont Pelerin Society and The Philadelphia Society, of which he was a Distinguished Member. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy.

A syndicated columnist in dozens of newspapers across the country, Ed authored many books, including Intellectual Pilgrims, Conservatives Stalk the House, Leadership for America, The March of Freedom, Getting America Right and The American Spirit.

After retiring as President of Heritage in 2019 – for the second time – Ed was able to focus on spending more time with his family, friends and important causes. But of course, he never really retired. He was honored to be appointed by Governor Younkin as chairman of the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments. He was also instrumental in opening the Victim of Communism Museum where he was chairman emeritus. In addition to remaining on Heritage's Board, he was appointed to the Hanwha Board of Directors and also started his own consulting company, Feulner & Associates.

Ed has served on the board of different Catholic charities and was extensively involved with his local parish, Basilica of Saint Mary in Alexandria, Virginia. Additionally, Ed had the honor of serving as a Knight of Malta for more than thirty years and was delighted when his father joined him as a member. Ed also served proudly as a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, an order that promotes the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

Ed's life was one of profound purpose, marked by family, faith, and unwavering dedication to the principles he championed. He leaves behind a lasting legacy not only through his leadership in shaping public policy and advancing conservative ideals, but also through the lives he touched with his kindness, generosity, and unshakable optimism. Whether in the halls of power, in his beloved church, or at The Beach House spending time with his family, Ed remained guided by a deep sense of duty and love. He will be remembered not only as a transformational leader and thinker, but as a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, loyal friend, mentor and faithful Catholic.

All the accolades in the world paled in comparison to Ed's deep and mutual love for his family. In 1967 Ed met the love of his life – his soulmate, Linda. They lived next door to one another on Prospect Street in Georgetown where Ed's roommate was his oldest and dearest friend, Bruce McEvoy. Soon after meeting, Ed and Linda fell in love. They were married two years later at St. Thomas More church in Linda's native New York City. According to Emily, ""their love story is rare… They have been an incredible example of what a true selfless and loving marriage is. The unwavering love, support, kindness and encouragement that they bestowed upon one another for 56 years is revered by all that have known them. Linda's dedication to Ed and his vision was unwavering. She was his quiet and elegant strength. EJ, Emily, their spouses and children have been immensely fortunate to witness their beautiful marriage and feel the unintentional result of their deep and respectful love which has been the foundation of their home... a home filled with warmth, kindness, happiness, respect, loyalty, encouragement, integrity and the inevitable feeling of security.""

From early world travels with his children to cherished days at his treasured beach house in Bethany Beach, Delaware – with his grandchildren and Linda, Ed embraced life and everything in it. He is survived by his beloved wife, Linda Feulner; his son, Edwin John Feulner, III (EJ), and daughter-in-law, Wendy Feulner, of Villanova, Pennsylvania, and their two daughters, Elizabeth Feulner and Sara Feulner; and his daughter, Emily Lown, and son-in-law, Christian Lown, of McLean, Virginia, and their son, William Lown.

To honor Ed's sixty years of dedication to the conservative cause, his family prefers memorial contributions to The Heritage Foundation in lieu of flowers.