THE VICTIMS LIVIU LIBRESCU

BY SONIA VERMA | Special to Newsday

April 18, 2007

JERUSALEM - As a child, he survived the Holocaust. As an adult, he escaped Romania's Communist rule. But it was in the last moments of his life that Liviu Librescu was recognized as a hero.

The 76-year-old Virginia Tech professor used his body Monday to block the door of his classroom as Cho Seung-Hui tried to shoot his way inside.

"He showed that kind of bravery throughout his life," said his son, Joe, from near Tel Aviv.

The family was completing funeral arrangements yesterday for Librescu, a world-renowned scientist who refused to retire after 20 years of teaching at Virginia Tech. His son pieced together the last moments of his father's life through students' e-mails.

Librescu was in his classroom when shots rang out from next door. He rushed to the door and held it shut. His students kicked out the windows and most jumped to the bushes below.

"I saw your husband still standing there," one student wrote. "He was holding the door closed and looking over his shoulder to make sure everybody else was safe. It was the bravest thing I have ever seen. "

Librescu was fatally shot. But by the time the gunman got past him, most students had escaped.

Librescu was born and raised in Romania and, during World War II, his family was interned in a labor camp. He was 10. "He knew what it meant to help others," said his son. Librescu went on to study in Bucharest.

In 1978, the couple moved to Israel over objections from Romania's Communist regime. In 1984, they moved to Virginia for a sabbatical and chose to stay. "He saw himself as an ambassador to the United States, but an Israeli at heart," said his son.