Speech of Hon. Edolphus Towns of New York in the House Of Representatives (Wednesday, April 18 2007): Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my sorrow and disbelief over the massacre at Virginia Tech. I join a country and Congress, especially my colleague from Virginia, that are still experiencing profound mourning and shock. I extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of all the Virginia Tech victims. We all continue to have the injured victims in our prayers.

I particularly want to recognize the heroism of Virginia Tech Professor, Liviu Librescu, who was gunned down while blocking his classroom door while he and his students were under attack, ultimately sacrificing his own life for those of his students.

Mr. Librescu, age seventy-six, was born in Romania and survived the Holocaust and his interment in a labor camp and Focsani ghetto. He and his family later survived the oppression of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceaucescu, and ultimately left Romania for Israel after then Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, personally intervened for the family’s release. He came to Virginia Tech to teach in 1986.

Liviu Librescu was a celebrated scientist who was an expert in composite structures and aeroelasticity, which worked earned him NASA grants and other prestigious awards for his impressive work.

Madam Speaker. Liviu Librescu is to be buried imminently in his native Israel.

Yesterday, the Jewish community, in my native Brooklyn, volunteered to hold a service for Mr. Librescu in Borough Park and hundreds of Brooklyn residents gathered to pay their respects to Mr. Librescu and his widow Marlena Librescu, before they returned to Israel. The care and concern shown by the Brooklyn community for the Librescus, was truly remarkable.

I think New York State Assemblyman, Dov Hikind, said it best when he remarked about Mr. Librescu that, “not only was he a hero of the Jewish people, but a hero of all people”.

May his remembrance be a blessing.