Leaders across the country and world honored conservative icon Ed Feulner, who died Friday at age 83. Feulner was The Heritage Foundation’s founder and longest-serving president.
Political figures praised Feulner’s decades-long influence on the conservative movement.
Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker who often collaborated with Feulner, hailed his transformational leadership of Heritage and the contributions he made to the conservative movement.
“Ed Feulner was a giant helping save and then reshape America. His leadership in the 1970s made Heritage the leading conservative think tank in the country,” Gingrich said. “His close ties to candidate Ronald Reagan and his policy coordinator, Ed Meese, changed history through the publication of ‘Mandate for Change,’ possibly the single most influential policy book in the modern era.”
“All of us who push back against the insidious creep of statism, not to mention those among us who cling atavistically to guns and to God, are in Ed Feulner’s debt,” wrote Neal B. Freeman, a businessman and journalist who was a director of National Review for 38 years.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal editorial board honored Feulner’s life and achievements.
“Ed Feulner’s motto was ‘onward, always,’ reflecting his optimism about the durability of America’s founding ideals,” the Journal wrote.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served with Feulner on the board of Advancing American Freedom, also paid tribute in The Wall Street Journal.
“Ed was my friend and a fellow traveler whose wisdom, warmth and leadership will be deeply missed,” Pence wrote Sunday. “But we take comfort in knowing that his legacy lives on—in the institutions he built, the leaders he inspired, and the countless Americans who still believe, as he did, in the enduring promise of freedom and the unfailing providence of almighty God.”
Numerous other political leaders, here in the United States and abroad, expressed their appreciation for Feulner.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed his condolences and called Feulner’s legacy “extraordinary.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, credited Feulner for his leadership on the global stage. “His dedication to promoting peace through strength at the end of the Cold War offers a particularly enduring lesson.”
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin acknowledged Feulner’s “deep love for our history and country.”
“Feulner was one of the architects who built the conservative movement in this country,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, recognized the impact of Feulner’s leadership.
Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, noted Feulner’s past role as executive director of RSC. “As the current RSC Chairman, I have had the privilege of learning from Ed’s example.”
“Feulner was a godfather of the conservative movement,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley pointed to Feulner’s common phrase “personnel is policy,” saying “those people are also now his great legacy.”
Though a well-known political figure, “Feulner … was less well known as a serious and faithful Catholic from a devout Catholic family,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said.
Jonathan Garthwaite, publisher of Townhall Media, stated his media organization would not exist today were it not for Feulner’s vision.
Lai Ching-te, president of Taiwan, called Feulner “an inspiring leader and a dear friend of Taiwan.”
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim also honored Feulner and his support of Taiwan.
Ilya Shapiro, director of the Manhattan Institute’s constitutional studies, wrote Monday in City Journal he wanted “to pay tribute to [Feulner] whose pioneering work those of us in public policy now take for granted.”
“I didn’t know him well—and he didn’t have many connections with the Manhattan Institute—but I appreciate what he’s done to advance core American values, and the good nature with which he approached that task,” Shapiro said.
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