Dr. Louis Sullivan visited President George H.W. Bush just two days ago.
The Atlanta native served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services under Bush.
The pair first met 36 years ago when Bush, then vice president, came to a building dedication at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Sullivan is the founding dean of the school.
"One of his staff members put something into my hand, it was a set of Vice-Presidential cufflinks," Sullivan said. "I had no idea something like that existed."
That sparked a friendship that lasted more than three decades.
Soon after that fateful meeting, Sullivan received a phone call from the vice president.
Bush was planning a two-week delegation to sub-Saharan African and wanted Sullivan to come along.
Six years later, the phone rang again - this time asking Sullivan to joins his cabinet.
"He was really a great humanitarian who was always interested in working with people and helping people and so he will really be a person who is missed," said Sullivan.
One memory Sullivan will never forget is the time he and his wife, Ginger, visited the president for his 80th birthday. The adventurous Bush marked the occasion by going skydiving.
"Barbara (Bush) would tell everyone, 'I don't understand why George would jump out of a perfectly good airplane.' But he loved that sort of thing," said Sullivan.
