Hugh Newton, the Heritage Foundation’s longtime public-relations guru, died last night after a battle with bone marrow cancer. I got to know Hugh when I was working at Human Events. He sought me out and would often send hand-written notes and clips for potential profiles of conservative groups. At the time, I was writing the weekly Conservative Spotlight feature.

I probably last saw Hugh more than a year ago for lunch at Irish Times, where my Human Events editors Tom Winter and Allan Ryskind gather daily with friends in the conservative movement. Hugh was a wonderful person and I’m grateful I got to know him, albeit briefly.

My Heritage colleague Khristine Brookes shared with me this passage from “The Power of Ideas,” Lee Edwards’ book about the Heritage Foundation: “According to think tank historian James A. Smith, Heritage ‘is the salesman and promoter of ideas par excellence, with a marketing strategy down through the years that has quite simply reshaped the broader market in which all research organizations now compete.’” It’s a fitting tribute to the man who put Heritage on a successful path from the very beginning.