Even before he started trading stocks out of his Cabot dorm room sophomore year, Griffin had already helped launch another business.

During his senior year of high school, Griffin founded EDCOM, a company that provided low-cost educational software to professors.

According to Juang, the company dominated a large portion of Griffin’s time during his freshman year.

“He was on the phone all the time with his manager,” Juang recalled.

During business transactions, Griffin strove to maintain a mature persona and to avoid flaunting his young age.

Griffin told the Fort Lauderdale newspaper, Sun Sentinel, in 1986,“Do you think anyone would trust their product line to a 17-year-old kid?”

Although Griffin attempted to assume a professional attitude, he did not appear different from his peers, Juang said. The freshman roommates still had a relatively normal year that included plenty of partying and socializing.

“He was a hardworking, fun guy to hang out with,” Juang said. “Nobody thought of him as being above anyone else. He was an ordinary undergraduate.”

AN EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

Griffin still says his years at Harvard were formative, teaching him how to tackle everyday challenges and grapple with political questions.

Amid floods of fond memories, Griffin reminisced on a class he took with Richard E. Neustadt, a legendary White House advisor and historian, on the power of the American presidency.

According to Griffin, Neustadt, who died in 2003, used to invite students back to his house for dinner, drinks, and political conversations. It was those conversations that Griffin now remembers as some of the best he had at Harvard.

“I can’t remember if Richard was in his seventies or older at that time, but as the night wore on, he showed all that he had us beat in every dimension,” Griffin said. “[Neustadt was] just a brilliant thinker and he could outdrink all the freshmen.”

Although Neustadt was known for advancing liberal political dogmas, Griffin developed a conservative streak. According to the New York Times, Griffin has donated large sums of money to Republican candidates, such as Scott Brown and Mitt Romney, and conservative Super PACs like American Crossroads, the brainchild of Karl Rove.

Griffin has also focused his philanthropic efforts on his alma mater, donating to Harvard several times over the years. He made headlines last fall when he contributed the record-setting $150 million to the College, stipulating that about $125 million would go to fund financial aid.