Dhaka, July 20 -- Edwin Feulner, founder and longtime president of the influential US conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has died at age 83, Heritage said in a statement.

The Friday statement did not say when Feulner died or the cause.

Feulner, a Chicago-born political scientist, founded Heritage in 1973 and became its president in 1977, a position he held until 2013. Republican President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989.

Current Heritage president Kevin Roberts and Board of Trustees Chairman Barb Van Andel-Gaby, wrote in a joint statement that Feulner founded Heritage to plant "a flag for truth in a town too often seduced by power," as per a Reuters report.

"What started as a small outpo...