What I learned from reading Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger by Janet Lowe.
Charlie truly is one of a kind.
I recognized that in 1959 when I first met him, and I've been discovering unique qualities in him ever since.
Anyone who's had even the briefest contact with Charlie would tell you the same, but usually they would be thinking of his, shall we say, behavioral style.
Miss Manners clearly would need to do a lot of work on Charlie before she would grant him a diploma.
To me, however, what makes Charlie special is his character.
It's true that his mind is breathtaking.
He's as bright as any person I'd ever met and still has a memory that I would kill for.
He was born, though, with these abilities, it's how he has elected to use them that makes me regard him so highly.
In 41 years, I've never seen Charlie try to take advantage of anyone, nor have I seen him claim the least bit of credit for anything that he didn't do.
In fact, I've witnessed exactly the opposite.
He has knowingly let me and others have the better end of a deal and has always shouldered more than his share of blame when things go wrong, and accepted less than his share of credit when the reverse has been true.
He is generous in the deepest sense and never lets ego interfere with rationality.
Unlike most individuals who hunger for the worlds approval, Charlie judges himself entirely by an inner scorecard, and he's a tough grader.
On business matters, Charlie and I agree at a very high percentage of the time.
On social issues we sometimes see things differently.
But despite the fact that we both cherish our strong opinions, we have never in our entire friendship had an argument nor found disagreement a reason to be disagreeable.
It is very difficult to imagine Charlie on a corner in a Salvation army uniform.
No, make that impossible to imagine, but he seems to have embraced the charity's creed of hate, the sin, but not the sinner.
And speaking of sin, Charlie even brings rationality to that subject.
He concludes that sins such as lust, gluttony and sloth are to be avoided.