Last year, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., underwent intestinal surgery.

Fellow U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., was the first to call to wish him a speedy recovery.

“I’ve never forgotten that,” Roberts said Friday after learning of Wellstone’s death.

“Public service sometimes makes unique bedfellows,” Robert said. “Paul Wellstone and I were close friends. Paul was unique in being a true partisan on behalf of the causes he championed but truly bipartisan in his relationship with his colleagues.”

Wellstone and Roberts served together on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., also considered Wellstone a close friend.

“I was shocked and saddened at the news of the death of Paul Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, their daughter, the three staffers and the two pilots,” Brownback said.

“Paul and Sheila were a great team. They cared deeply about the plight of others,” he said. “Paul was a dear friend, and I will miss him. He was passionate for his causes and for his friendships.”

Brownback and Wellstone co-authored a bill aimed at halting sex-trade human trafficking. The bill was later signed by President Clinton.

Former Kansas Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, now at Harvard University, issued a statement Friday, praising Wellstone for his “unswerving support for family farmers and ranchers.”