If James Watson had to use one word to describe his younger brother, Benjamin Watson, it would be smart.

“I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but he’s by far the smartest person I’ve known,” James Watson said.

Benjamin Watson, a Western student from Louisville, died on July 10 from injuries he suffered the previous night when he fell from a moving car while “car surfing” on a neighborhood street in Louisville.

Watson, who would have been a sophomore this semester, died at University of Louisville Hospital, said Jack Arnold, Jefferson County deputy coroner.

Watson was 19 years old.

“He just got carried away in the moment,” said his father, Jim Watson, in July.

Watson graduated from duPont Manual High School in 2004 and attended Western on a full scholarship as a mathematics major. He maintained a 4.0 grade point average his freshman year, Jim Watson said.

Watson was a National Merit Scholar Semi-Finalist in high school and considered attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jim Watson said.

He described his son as someone who cared about people, his church and his family.

“The thing we say we’ve seen the most is he was there for people who needed him,” Jim Watson said.

Georgetown sophomore Cameron Wengrzyn met Watson during MASTER Plan in 2004.

“Basically, he wasn’t afraid to be anybody’s friend,” he said. “He didn’t care who you were.”

Watson’s father and brother also remember his good sense of humor.

“He was a little over the top when it comes to trying to be funny,” James Watson said.

“He liked to crack jokes; that was his thing,” Wengrzyn said.

Watson had considered becoming an actuary, his brother said.

Reach Samantha Hupman at news@wkuherald.com.