Edwin Feulner

Who was Edwin Feulner?

Edwin John Feulner Jr. (; August 12, 1941 – July 18, 2025) was an American political scientist, think tank executive, congressional aide and foreign relations consultant who was co-founder of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in 1973. Feulner was born in Chicago, Illinois, on, to Helen Joan (née Franzen) and Edwin John Feulner, the owner of a Chicago real estate firm. The family were devout Roman Catholic German Americans. Feulner attended Immaculate Conception High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, and Regis University in Denver, where he graduated with a BA degree in English in 1963. He attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a MBA in 1964. He was a Richard M. Weaver Fellow at Georgetown University and the London School of Economics.

He served as the Heritage Foundation's president from 1977 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2018.

Historical significance

He had three sisters: Mary Ann, Joan, and Barbara. Three of his maternal uncles were parish priests.