Jul 19
VOC Mourns the Passing of Dr. Edwin J. Feulner
WASHINGTON—The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) mourns the passing of its Chairman Emeritus, Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, on July 18, 2025. A long-time Trustee and former Chairman, Dr. Feulner was instrumental in the founding and growth of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and was recognized with its highest award, the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, in 2006.
Dr. Eric Patterson, President and CEO of the Foundation, noted,
The passing of Dr. Ed Feulner is a tremendous loss for all of us who were inspired by his patriotism, enthusiasm, wise counsel, and strategic leadership. The global movement for liberty has been shaped by Dr. Feulner. We pledge to honor his memory by continuing this vital work.
Dr. Elizabeth Spalding, Chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Founding Director of the Victims of Communism Museum, released the following statement on his passing:
Our VOC family joins Linda and all of Ed’s family and friends in mourning the loss and celebrating the contributions of this great man, husband, father, grandfather, friend, and mentor, who made a difference for good—on behalf of ordered liberty and against communism and all other forms of tyranny—each and every day. His legacy will be enduring. Among his many contributions to advancing freedom was his hands-on chairmanship during the making and building of the Victims of Communism Museum and the expansion of VOC’s policy-relevant research on Communist China. Ed helped to build institutions in which ‘people are policy’ is carried out.
Dr. Feulner was renowned across the globe for his many years of strategic leadership as president of The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, as well as his founding of and influence on many other organizations. During a speech in 1986, President Reagan praised him thus, “Ed Feulner, you’re a combination of many things: intellectual, administrator, politician, diplomat, but most of all, dreamer and darer.”
Dr. Feulner came to the Victims of Communism Foundation by way of his friendship with its co-founders: the late Dr. Lee Edwards—Dr. Feulner’s biographer and frequent partner on projects—and the late Dr. Lev Dobriansky, his Georgetown University economics professor and mentor. Dr. Feulner actively supported the construction and dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial, ensured the perpetuation of VOC’s Nikolai Getman Gulag art collection in the years before its permanent home at the Museum, and, through his consequential chairmanship during COVID and its aftermath, helped to make the Victims of Communism Museum a reality.
Dr. Feulner’s career began with time as an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, an aide to Representative Melvin Laird (R-WI) when Laird was Chairman of the House Republican Conference and later, when he was U.S. Secretary of Defense, as Chief of Staff to Congressman Phil Crane (R-IL), and as the Executive Director of the Republican Study Committee. Feulner assumed the presidency of The Heritage Foundation in 1977, transforming it from a small think tank with nine employees to a highly influential research and policy institution of over two hundred and fifty.
Dr. Feulner also held leadership positions in a wide array of academic, political, and economic non-profit organizations and universities, and served on the Gingrich-Mitchell Congressional UN Reform Task Force and the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, of which he was Chairman. He served as the Public Member (Ambassador) of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament. In 2022, Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia appointed Dr. Feulner Chairman of the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments. Feulner wrote nine books, including The American Spirit (2012) and Getting America Right (2006). He held a B.A. from Regis University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh.
