To the students who he saved:
Go and make use of your life. This man has given you a gift and you must not waste it. Find something that you are passionate about and that helps your fellow mankind and start TODAY.
You are the lucky ones, and you know that.

Susan, Sydney, Australia

What an incredible example of courage and integrity; this man was such a fine human being. Would that more of us could emulate his morality!

Sue, Clearwater, FL ,

Your beautiful life and actions have given me renewed hope in the human spirit and gratitude to God for your goodness in the face of evil. May you rest in peace Professor Librescu.

Lauren Smith, Hattiesburg, MS,

Dr. Liviu Librescu taught his students the most valuable lesson of all.

Mark Best, Durango, , Mexico

My god, this man was truely a hero

"When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death - that is heroism."- Robert Green Ingersoll

Jonathon Peters, North Charleston, United States/South Carolina

Thank you, Professor Librescu, for teaching me (and many others) what bravery and courage truly mean.

I will never forget your name, or what you stood and died for.

Phoenix, Silver Spring, MD, USA

Amazing human being.

Hal, Ossining, NY

I would just like to say that Liviu Librescu is the most heroic altruistic person I have ever heard of. I do not know him and I do not go to school at VT, but after I heard his story I feel like he is such a great hero. My heart goes out to his family, friends, and students. I think it is very rare to find someone of his caliber and I wish I could have had the chance to have met him.

Janet, NY,

Professor Librescu was/IS a HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He reacted in a decent way, to save the lives of his students, to whom he dedicated all his life. His studies, his teaching meant everything to him. He was a very inteligent, cultured, great man, a great professor and scientist. He survived Holocaust, communism in native Romania, cancer and he died in a heroic way...what else is to say?? A great life, a great man, may his soul rest in peace! He died on Holocaust rememberance Day!!! What a sign of a destiny....... He took a PhD in Bucharest,Romania, taught in Romania, then in Israel, before teaching for 20 years in Virginia. He wrote many book, and did important research work, was member of many International Institutions, who recognized his work.
We will always remember him. I am a Romanian myself living in US, I never heard about Professor Librescy before, but I can`t stop crying reading his story................

Denice Cernat Hartigan, North Potomac, Maryland?USA

This man survied a period of when humanity failed.
This man has shown us that humainity has not failled as a singualr event, even when another man (the shooter)has failed again.
Long live his name and deeds.

Stephen P Husok, Killen, Tx.,

We don't come any better than this man was, the human race is slightly less for his passing.

Susan, Barry, S Wales

"he was sent to a Soviet labour camp as a boy after his father was deported by the Nazis"

Where did you get "Soviet"??

"When Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in World War II, he was first interned in a labor camp in Transnistria and then deported along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani, his son said." (Associated Press)

That was *Nazi* "labor" camp.

Alexander Dmitriev, Mosocw, Russia

Liviu Librescu will remain a hero always. He was an amazing man who has impacted so many lives. My sympathies to his wife and 2 sons, as well as the students at Virginia Tech. Our hearts and prayers are with you.

Tracy, Philadelphia, PA

He is no Hero, he is a Saint!
Hero just doesn't cut it, imagine this; you survived the holocaust and Israel, come to America and face to the choice of running and hiding like the other teachers or sacfrice urself and save ur students! Come on, no one in America would ever do that.
He know's the vaule of life and would do anything for it. Israeli, Jew, Survivor of hell, and you call him just a hero!

erica COHEN, PALO ALTO, CA

What amazes me is that Liviu Librescu gave his life to save his students on the very day Israel remembers the shoah - April 16 is Israel's Holocaust rememberance Day.

I could not help but think that as an Israeli and Jew he must have remembered most particularly on that day the terrible, senseless loss of life, talent and young people of the Holocaust, and his own survival so many years ago. And because of this maybe even more selflessly offered his life so that his young students may live.

May God receive Prof. Libresecu' soul with the crown of martyr he so deserves. His gesture is a shining light in the darkness of such a sad day, ever reminding us that it overcame the darkness of evil with selflessness and love of others.

Nicole Herbots, Tempe, AZ

What a brave wonderful man, RIP. God bless.

Amy, Birmingham, UK

So lucky those who knew him. May God rest in piece his great soul!

Bob S., Tulsa, OK

I agree that the US government must recognize Dr. Librescu's heroic act. The hero that jumped ahead at times of danger must be praised. I am pround of my supervisor. I am lucky that I had the chance to work close to him.

Xiaoan Lu, Kitchener, Canada/Ontario

Today, Prof. Librescu was commended, posthumously, by the Romanian President with the Star of Romania Order in the grade of Great Cross.
The official press release is available at http://www.presidency.ro/pdf/date/8690_en.pdf

I hope that both the Israleian Goverment and the US Goverment will follow.

Razvan Vilt, Bucharest, Romania

Liviu Librescu's story has touched me profoundly. Out of such sorrow comes a triumph. This is good over evil. This is good over evil.
I am priveledged to wear this man's story upon my heart.

louise glen-lee, falkirk, Scotland

The US government must find a way to officially recognize Prof. Librescu's remarkable act of heroism.

Berel Dov Lerner, Kibbutz Sheluhot, Israel

Which words does one usually use to tell someone who is no longer there that his act of heroism saved the future of many men and women and caused his own death?
He had outlived the Holocaust and already had witnessed the inhumanity of mankind and had lived a whole life to now be shot by some frustrated person who reflected his anger and desperation on others.

Words can’t express my grief. Even though I never had heard of this man until now that he has died, I want to thank him for showing us that there still are heroes in this world. That there is hope in humanity even when there is the madness in mankind that disturbs us all.

Tina Ehrami, The Hague, The Netherlands

Prof. Librescu's story shows he well knew the value of human life and gave his for others to live. Amazing grace. God bless his soul.

Julio Juncal, New York, USA, NY

His lived his life in a way we could all learn from. I am sure the students at Virginia Tech have lost an incredible teacher.

Emma, Liverpool, UK

What is the meaning of life?

We often hear this question, and in truth, I guess nobody really knows the answer, but when the good Professor stood there holding that door shut and allowing his students, his wards, to escape, perhaps he came close to understanding.

Perhaps as thoughts and memories flashed through his mind, his family, his struggles against adversity, his achievements in academia, perhaps he thought that, in just these very moments, these few seconds his purpose on Earth was revealed.

Perhaps as he saw the last of his students disappear out of the window, he felt life at it's most vivid.

Jared, Stockholm,

Great man! Real hero!

Tasha Jordan, Ocean, NJ

very nicely written tribute.

John Morris, Farmington Hills, Michigan, USA

To Professor Librescu's family I just want to let them know that they have my deepest sympathy and hope I haven't mispelled anything as I am writing this through tear stained eyes.
HE is definitely a HERO.
Bless You All.

Linda Tracy, Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.