Yes, viewers and readers got glimpses of Krauthammer’s cheekier side from his on-air quips and the more sardonic lines in his columns. But Krauthammer’s humor was always matched to relentless decency. It was an omnipresent factor in the Fox News green room (the makeup waiting area). You’d be sitting there watching the TV or working and then Krauthammer would enter in his wheelchair. You might hear a laugh from the makeup crew or producers as Fox News’ elder statesman cracked a joke with them (he was adored by his colleagues to a person).

But then Krauthammer would pass the makeup area and enter the green room to see who was there and to say hello. What first struck me was that Krauthammer knew the names of so many regular and irregular guests alike. It meant a lot. Although I was not a personal friend and didn’t spend social time with him outside of work, Krauthammer always made me feel like a friend. He would often tease me about my beard/stubble/chaotic facial hair and then ask me what I thought about a major foreign policy issue of the day. He would then speak directly about that same issue offering his own thoughts.

Yet the true green room measure of this man was not how he interacted with those he knew a lot or a little bit. It was how Krauthammer made the strangers feel. If on-air guests would bring friends or family to the green room, they would invariably become star-struck on seeing Krauthammer. But unlike some major TV personalities, Krauthammer wouldn’t retreat. Instead, he would show genuine curiosity in asking these visitors where they were from and what they thought about an issue. That issue might be political, but it just as easily could have been sporting or social. Whatever question he asked them, Krauthammer always made these others feel special.

But that was Krauthammer through and through: special. Special on air, special on paper, and special in the green room. A man who treated everyone as his equal, even though no one ever was.