Eugene H. Berkun ’53 lived with Law during their first month at Harvard and remembers a roommate uncertain about whether he should even be on campus.

Berkun says that before he moved out due to overcrowding in their Thayer room, the two first-years discussed the conflict between Law’s moral strictness and the College’s less restrictive atmosphere.

“He was debating entering the priesthood rather than coming to Harvard,” Berkun says. “He felt that the liberal set-up was just a little bit too much for someone pointed toward orthodoxy.”

Religiously Conservative, Socially Liberal

Friends say that Law’s conservative demeanor hid a tolerant—even liberal—social and political ideology.

“He is a liberal,” Ammar says confidently. “It’s just the acceptance of Church teachings that gets him cast as a conservative.”

Oliver recalls that Law “made an effort to be friendly” to a black student at Harvard at a time when minority students “were as scarce as hens’ teeth.”

Oliver, who is a Protestant, says Law at first tried to convince him to accept the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

“I think he gave up trying to convert me,” he says. “But he was very tolerant.”

Heath says Law was the only white student in his high school class, and that when he was ordained a priest in Natchez-Jackson, Miss. in 1961, he was heavily involved in the Civil Rights movement there, fighting for the rights of blacks.

“He was in the heat of it,” Heath says. “His life was threatened because of it.”

Law was generous with his time, according to friends. Heath particularly remembers giving piano lessons with Law to raise money for a local high school in St. Thomas.

“He always tries to help people,” Law’s high school classmate says.

But Law was not only generous with his time, according to Heath.

He fondly remembers a sailing trip he took with Law and another friend.