Bush, who has no relation to the President, said that he has not seen Roberts since graduation. But he said he has many fond memories of life with the future nominee, which include playing Nerf football in their room and hearing Roberts endlessly quote the 18th-century literary critic Samuel Johnson.

And though a top student, Roberts complained about classes he did not like having to take—which in his case were science classes.

“John took ‘Physics for Poets’ and grumbled the whole time,” Bush said.

Bush remembers Roberts visiting professors frequently and attending church regularly.

And there was one thing Roberts could never do without—Pepto Bismol. “He was a great consumer of Pepto Bismol and always had a bottle or two on hand,” said Bush.

He also remembers Roberts as a stickler for formality.

“When he was considering law schools, John removed Stanford from his list because the Stanford interviewer was wearing sandals and didn’t have a tie,” Bush said.

William P. LaPiana ‘74, a pre-law and history tutor in Leverett House when Roberts lived there, earlier this month recalled Roberts as a “hard working and happy undergraduate who loved studying history.”

But what LaPiana remembers most about Roberts are his self-deprecating jokes.

“He had gotten a wonderful grade and a glowing comment on a term paper in a course on American Intellectual History,” LaPiana said. “Afterwards, he walked into my office and said ‘I think I can get my head through the door.’”

FROM HISTORIAN TO LAWYER

Immediately after graduating from the College, Roberts entered HLS.

There he became the Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review, a position that, according to classmate Paul K. Rowe ’76, “you didn’t get unless you were among the top 4 or 5 intellectually in the class.”

Roberts’ colleagues on the Law Review spoke highly of him.

Elizabeth R. Geise described him earlier this month as an “honest, forthright, decent, and fair person who was always there on time, always did his job, and was kind to everyone.”