John Spencer, who met Heruy in early 1936, described him as "a short, rotund, white-haired man ... with a goatee and a café au lait complexion. His corpulent build and backward-leaning stance suggested a Santa Claus, except for his black cape and the absence of a sparkle in his eyes. He was remarkably ponderous and deliberate ("qunin"), in his movements, perhaps reflecting the importance which he assigned to his position as foreign minister and to the reputation which he had earned among Ethiopians for his writings on Ethiopian history."