This article originally appeared in The Detroit News September 23, 2025.
Two hundred people gathered in Washington, D.C., last Thursday to honor Edwin J. Feulner. You may not know Feulner’s name, but you likely have heard of the institution he co-founded and built: The Heritage Foundation.
Feulner passed away in July at the age of 83. Last week’s event honored his life and legacy, with tributes from former colleagues and family.
Feulner launched The Heritage Foundation in 1973, later becoming president of the organization and serving in that role for 37 years, spanning seven U.S. presidential administrations.
Feulner and his team built the institution into a policy powerhouse, dedicated to free markets, individual liberty, limited government and strong national defense. When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, Heritage published an influential Mandate for Leadership, offering numerous policy ideas that Reagan embraced.
Feulner had many pithy observations that still echo in D.C. today: “There are no permanent victories or defeats, only permanent battles that every generation must wage to preserve the free society.” And: “Success in politics and in public policy is based on addition and multiplication, not subtraction and division.”
Understanding the importance of “big tent” movements, Feulner offered his time and wisdom to numerous institutions. In addition to his work at Heritage, he helped champion the Philadelphia Society, the Mont Pelerin Society, Intercollegiate Studies Institute and George Mason University, to name a few.
Feulner’s work also shaped Michigan in significant ways. He was a strong friend of Hillsdale College, offering the commencement address in 2004. He joined the board of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids when it was founded in 1990.
The late D. Joseph Olson was a co-founder of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, founded in 1987. He credited groups like The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute as models for the Mackinac Center.
Lawrence W. Reed was the first president of the Mackinac Center. “The moment I heard that Ed had passed, two words flashed in my mind: movement builder,” wrote Reed. “He always knew that for conservative or libertarian ideas to prosper, they must flow from as many fountains as possible.”
Reed told a story of meeting with Feulner in the Mackinac Center’s early days. Feulner concluded the meeting by showing the generosity he shared with countless others: “We’ll do all we can to help you guys in Michigan.”
Decades ago, it was rare for think tanks to work in individual states. Inspired by a conversation with President Reagan, Thomas A. Roe, a trustee of The Heritage Foundation, helped launch the State Policy Network, a network of state-focused think tanks that advocate for liberty and free markets.
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke at Feulner’s memorial. “It’s fair to say that Ed Feulner and [Heritage co-founder] Paul Weyrich invented the conservative movement and its modern family,” he said.
In my own career in public policy, I have enjoyed many intersections with The Heritage Foundation. One of the first policy events I attended was the Heritage Resource Bank, an annual conference that ran for more than 40 years. Academics, lawyers, elected officials, conservatives and libertarians all gathered to debate policy, share ideas and network. Thousands of people who shape state and national policy attended these events over the years.
Speaking at Feulner’s funeral mass, Fr. Robert Sirico, co-founder of the Acton Institute said: “Ed did not believe that the success of some required the diminishment of others, either in the world of ideas or in the operations of a free economy.”
A fitting tribute for a good man.
