By Tracie Sharp, CEO & President, State Policy Network
It is with heavy hearts that we honor the life and legacy of Edwin J. Feulner, a towering figure in the conservative movement and a dear friend whose influence will be felt for generations to come.
SPN’s Board Chairman, Lawson Bader, said upon Ed’s passing:
“People will never fully appreciate how “giant” of a man Ed truly was. Countless leaders and organizations, including me, personally, have benefited from his wisdom, friendship, perspective and, most importantly, his desire simply to help. He intrinsically understood we are indeed a “movement” – of disparate people, institutions, even ideas – but a movement grounded in First Principles – including our Republican form of government. Ed was a passionate defender and promoter of SPN, and his friendship with Tom Roe was instrumental in SPN’s founding. A leader like Ed comes along only once a generation, but it’s multiple generations that have and will continue to reap the benefits of his legacy.
Among his many achievements, Ed was a visionary who fundamentally transformed how think tanks operate and influence policy in America. When Ed became Heritage Foundation’s president in 1977, he was determined to chart a revolutionary new course. Ed and his trusted colleagues, Phil Truluck and John von Kannon, refused to lead “a group of academics that would write studies, place them on a shelf, and hope someone important would read them.” Instead, they decided Heritage would “operate like a business that expected progress from its analysts and results from their policy studies.”
Together, this remarkable trio pioneered the “briefcase test”—creating timely, concise studies that could literally fit in a briefcase and be read between Capitol Hill and National Airport. This concept revolutionized think tank influence on public policy, with Heritage publishing policy reports ahead of related legislation rather than after it had passed, as most think tanks did at the time. As Ed famously said, “it doesn’t do us any good to have great ideas if we are not out there peddling our products.”
Their innovation was so successful that even former President Bill Clinton complained in 2003, “They’ve got everything from The Heritage Foundation, the sympathetic newspapers, to sympathetic cable programs.” Under their leadership, Heritage grew from a small operation into what The New York Times called “the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis,” becoming the model that liberal organizations desperately tried to replicate.
Ed became close friends with SPN’s founder, Tom Roe, who served as a trustee of the Heritage Foundation. Tom eventually named Ed as vice-chairman of the Thomas Roe Foundation. Ed enthusiastically supported Tom Roe’s efforts to build the state-based think tank movement. I had the honor of serving together with Ed as a trustee of the Roe Foundation alongside SPN’s former chairman Carl Helstrom, and former board member Thomas Willcox. As trustees, Ed worked closely to help amplify and accelerate the work of the state-based think tank movement. Ed was not just Tom’s close friend but a faithful steward when Shirley Roe took leadership of the foundation upon Tom’s passing in 2000.
What made Ed truly extraordinary was his generous mentoring spirit. He would good-naturedly refer to me as the “kid” and never failed to ask about SPN’s growth and my family during meetings. His wisdom on leadership and diplomacy was freely shared with countless emerging leaders.
Ed didn’t just transform think tankery—he revolutionized how ideas reach policymakers and change the world. Working with Phil Truluck and John Von Kannon, he demonstrated that rigorous research, combined with strategic marketing, could shift entire policy debates. His mentorship taught me that true leadership means building institutions that outlast you, developing people who surpass you, and maintaining unwavering principles while adapting methods to maximize impact. The ‘briefcase test’ wasn’t just about page length—it was about respecting lawmakers’ time while ensuring conservative ideas got a fair hearing. Ed’s legacy lives in every think tank that prioritizes accessibility and impact over academic obscurity.
Rest in peace, Ed. Your revolutionary approach to advancing ideas has changed how democracy works.