One of the great founders and funders of the free-market movement in America passed away earlier this week. David Padden, a Chicago businessman, founded the Heartland Institute in that city and also played a key role in the governance and financial support of the Cato Institute, the Foundation for Economic Education, and a host of other public policy institutes and organizations across the country.

The Chicago Tribune noted Padden’s passing with quotes from his son and friends:

“His plan was to change the direction of the debate on economic and social issues not just locally, but throughout the entire country,” said his son Michael.
In the years that followed its 1984 founding, the [Heartland] institute’s budget grew to more than $6 million for 2011, and the think tank has promoted libertarian causes and education from Maine to California.
“He was a behind-the-scenes intellectual who believed passionately in the ideas he put forth,” said Joe Bast, who now heads the Heartland Institute and serves as its president. “He was the kid in high school who would challenge his teachers and always pursue the truth as he saw it.”

You can read a longer tribute to David Padden here. You might also consider making a gift in his honor to the Heartland Institute, an invaluable source of free-market ideas for federal, state, and local officials, journalists, and activists across America.