The Hero
In the wake of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history comes reports of an Israeli hero.
An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday.
Students of Liviu Librescu, 76, an engineering science and mathematics lecturer in at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman’s way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe.“My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee,” Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. “Students started opening windows and jumping out.”Liviu Librescu, was respected in his field, his son said.“His work was his life in a sense,” Joe Librescu said. “That was a good place for him to practice his research.”The couple immigrated to Israel from Romania in 1978 and then moved to Virginia in 1985 for his sabbatical, but had stayed since then, said Joe Librescu, who himself studied at the school from 1989 to 1994.In Romania, the academic community also was mourning Librescu’s death.“It is a great loss,” said Ecaterina Andronescu, rector of the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, where Librescu graduated in mechanics and aviation construction in 1953. “We have immense consideration for the way he reacted and defended his students with his life.”He also received a Ph.D from the Bucharest-based Academy of Sciences in 1969, and received an honorary degree with the Polytechnic University in 2000.At the Polytechnic University, his picture was put on a table and a candle was lit, and people lay flowers. “We remember him as a great specialist in aeronautics. He left behind hundreds of prestigious papers,” said one of the professors, Nicolae Serban Tomescu.Librescu, who specialized in composite structures and aeroelasticity, published extensively and received numerous awards for his work. He also received several NASA grants and also taught courses at the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Italy, and at the Tel Aviv University in Israel.
May G-d bless Liviu and give comfort to the family he leaves behind. Indeed, may G-d bless all of the victims and their families.
Update: According to Ynetnews, Liviu was a Holocaust survivor, and the professor with the highest number of publications in the history of Virginia Tech.
Update: According to an Iranian Foreign Ministry statement:
“While condemning this [attack], [Iran] expresses condolences with the nation and the families of those killed….Attacking innocent people, irrespective of their race and nationality, is contrary to divine and human values no matter which group or person carries out such an act under any name.”
I’m guessing they have not been informed that Liviu was a Jew and an Israeli.
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
April 17th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
What a true hero! I found this picture of him wearing a kippah.
April 17th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
I am a Virginian close to Blacksburg who’s aware of the heroism of Prof. Librescu. Just another example of the unbreakable bonds between Americans and Israelis. There’s talk of renaming the building Librescu Hall. I hope it happens,
We’ll never forget one of Israel’s sons giving his life for his American students.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:39 am
“giving his life to his American students…”
Hmm, no. This is a man who gave his life to his students, period. Humans. Not “Americans” or other “Israelis” or anyone else. He did it for his fellow humans. One of the staff who was also killed was an Indian professor, and there were at least 2 Arabs amongst those victims, and many of these students were international. It is not about saving the lives of Americans, it’s about saving the lives of innocent human beings! I hope you can see beyond ethnicity and race with all this.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Esra - it sounds like the only point you’re trying to make is… to make a point. Who cares? YOU are the only person focusing on the race or religion of the people that Hero, Prof. Librescu saved.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Well, I for one, do care. Read the comment again if you fail to see the point - it was in response to the comment right above mine, NOT a response to Dave’s post in general.
April 18th, 2007 at 9:55 am
I would also add that you clearly did not read the first part of the comment. I challenge you to find where I made this about race and ethnicity when the only thing I proved was that the victims were DIVERSE in terms of nationality. The incident was not an attack on America or on Americans, it was an attack on innocent human beings. That is the mere correction that I made to the comment above mine. Now that I explained my point, what is the point behind your refutation, if I can even call it that?
April 18th, 2007 at 10:17 am
I agree, one should not make it seem as though the professor had only saved the lives of Americans or even Israelis. As far as the comment that came from Tehran is concerned I believe that ethnicity and race were perhaps also not brought into consideration. The true tradegy lies in the notion of a student commiting such an act and whether the war on terrorism or rather the steps that are being taken to make the world ’safer’ are really a cure for this disorder or if they are simply fighting the symptoms of such violent drives.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Okay. I guess that American/Israeli comment hit a raw nerve with you. I wasn’t focusing on that at all.
When I learned that Prof. Librescu was a Holocaust Survivor who used his own body to save his students I was overcome with emotions - what a man! What a true Hero!
I think too many people ARE focused on nationality. Perhaps you and I are actually in AGREEMENT on this. If more Humans in the world saw each other as Human equals we wouldn’t have suicide bombers, terrorists or crazy enraged college students killing innocent people, would we?
April 18th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
maybe the best way to look at it is that his life was saved so he could save the lives of others.
This type of bravery is rare these days.
April 19th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
There is a petition going around calling for the renaming of Norris Hall to Librescu Hall. You can find it at http://www.petitiononline.com/04172007/petition.html
Also there is a Facebook group dedicated to this cause at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2317683565&ref=mf
April 19th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Oh for crying out loud.
“Anonymous” most likely said “American students” just because he was thinking in terms of “the unbreakable bonds between Americans and Israelis.” I’d be greatly surprised if s/he actually intended to slight any victims of other nationality. Frankly, I don’t care: is this a eulogy for a hero or another PC discussion?
Prof. Librescu displayed the greatest of heroism. Without hope of victory or even survival he resisted until death to allow others to escape. His fellow Israelis should be proud of him; decent people the world over should be proud of him. Death comes to us all, but how many die with such honor?
Grumpy