Ed Feulner was a conservative giant

Rarely has there been an entrepreneur who dedicated as much of his life to making the world a better place through principled public policy solutions and had such a lasting, positive impact on the world as Edwin J. Feulner, PhD., founder and longtime president of the Heritage Foundation.

Known more often as Ed or EJF to those of us who had the honor of working for him and calling him a friend, Ed Feulner was a legend in both American conservative circles and globally. He championed free enterprise, civil society, and prosperity through the principles of individual liberty and human flourishing. 

I had the honor of serving as Ed’s chief of staff at The Heritage Foundation from 2001 to 2005. He was my boss, then he was my mentor, and over the years he became a dear friend.  

When Ed founded Heritage, he did so with a clear and concise mission: to help members of Congress make more principled and informed policy decisions. Heritage broke new ground by providing clear, concise talking points and short backgrounders that policymakers on Capitol Hill and in the administration could count on, before they had to vote. Their ideas were so credible and marketable that President Ronald Reagan placed a copy of Heritage’s “Leadership for America” book at every seat for his first Cabinet meeting.