America's finest - gunned down in a bloody rampage

Liviu Librescu

THE PROFESSOR

The 76-year-old professor of engineering, pictured right with his wife, Marlina, died saving the lives of several of his students by blocking his classroom's doorway as Cho approached. His actions allowed students to climb on to a window ledge and jump to relative safety.

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His son Joe, who lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, said: "My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to jump. Students started opening windows and jumping out. His work was his life in a sense."

It was a brutal end to a life scarred by violence, murder and oppression. When Romania joined forces with Nazi Germany in the Second World

War, he was interned in a labour camp in Moldova and then deported along with his family and thousands of other Jews to a central ghetto in the city of Focsani, Romania.

He avoided being transported to the death camps with his family when a shipment of Jews from his native Romania was held back from the capital, Bucharest, in 1944 because the country changed allegiances. According to a report by the Romanian government in 2004, between 280,000 and 380,000 Jews were killed by Romania's Nazi-allied regime.

As a successful engineer under the post-war communist government, Professor Librescu worked at Romania's aerospace agency. But his career was stymied in the 1970s because he refused to swear allegiance to the regime, his son said, and he was fired when he asked to move to Israel.

Professor Librescu eventually emigrated to Israel in 1978 with his wife. He moved to Virginia in 1985 and received several grants from Nasa to further his research. His daughter-in-law, Ayala Librescu, said: "He has been teaching there for 20 years and was a senior world-renowned lecturer. He is the professor with the highest number of publications in the history of Virginia Tech." Professor Librescu's second son, Arie, told The Jerusalem Post that his father had been an "ambassador" for Israel in a community with many Muslim residents.

The rector of the Polytechnic University in Bucharest, Ecaterina Andronescu, from where Professor Librescu graduated in 1953, said: "It is a great loss. We have immense consideration for the way he reacted and defended his students with his life."

Ryan Clark, 20

STUDENT COUNSELLOR

The fifth-year student tried to help Ms Hilscher while she was arguing with her eventual killer. He was a student counsellor at Ambler Johnston Hall, the hall of residence where Ms Hilscher lived. According to reports, he was shot in the neck at point-blank range. Mr Clark, from Georgia, was just a month away from graduating. He wanted to go on to do a PhD in psychology. Fellow students said he dedicated himself to his role as a supervisor and confidant in his dormitory. Curtis Dahn said: "He and I would chat to two or three in the morning." Another student, Allison Wood, said: "He was the wildest and most crazy person I ever met." Mr Clark's interests lay in music and he was a member of the university marching band, the Marching Virginians. Denise Aspell, a friend from the band, told a local television station: "Ryan was a wonderful person and friend. [He] cared more about others than himself, and could put a smile on your face whenever you needed it, or even if you didn't. We were in the Marching Virginians and symphony band together ... Ryan was very special to me and even gave up part of his spring break to attend my senior trumpet recital. He was one of the first to die and he died trying to stop the disturbance. This is one hundred per cent something he would do, and is how I would like to remember him."

Emily Hilscher, 19

THE 'GIRLFRIEND'

Ms Hilscher was the first to die and was killed along with her student supervisor Ryan Clark. A Virginia resident, she was in the first year of a course in animal and poultry sciences. Her nickname, according to a family friend, was Pixie. Friends said she was known for her love of animals. John McCarthy said: "She worked at a veterinarian's office and cared about them her whole life." The internet site Facebook.com, which has been serving as the forum for memories of the victims, carried nearly 150 tributes by lunchtime yesterday. One childhood friend, Ella Miller, wrote: "She wasn't scared of one thing. I remember her untying my shoes with a fork when we played in the woods around her house in the club house. Spending the night ... staying up playing cards, her teaching me how to play the saxophone, summer crab feasts, swimming in the river, jumping on trampolines in the rain, her putting worms on her nose. And it wasn't just her personality, she was gorgeous."

Jamie Bishop

LECTURER IN GERMAN

The 36-year-old was teaching his subject in one of the four classrooms where most of the killings took place, in Norris Hall.

It was reported that Dr Bishop died when Cho burst into the room and shot him in the head. His wife, Stefanie Hofer, is also a teacher in Virginia Tech's German department.

He had a passion for art. In an online profile, Mr Bishop described himself as: "Mild-mannered, bespectacled ... After five, he battles the drudgery and ennui of the 40-hour work week, heroically pursuing creativity. (Victory or no, the glasses always stay on.)

Often inspired by his artistic superheroes, Dave McKean, Frank Miller and the ever-groovy Rene Magritte, Jamie enjoys creating digital art."

Reema Samaha

ENGLISH STUDENT

Ms Samaha, 18, died at the hands of a man who attended the same high school as her.

The dance enthusiast from Virginia ­ a keen follower of belly dancing ­ graduated from Westfield High School in the same affluent suburb outside Washington where the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, lived.

Cho also graduated from Westfield to attend Virginia Tech. Her brother, Omar, told how he had seen Reema dance at a street fair on Sunday. He told NBC: "I got to see her and tell, 'nice job'. I never got to say goodbye. "

The family tried for several hours to contact Reema on her mobile phone before being told that she had died. Omar said: "My dad woke me up yesterday morning and told me there was a shooting. I don't think much about it." Reema, who was studying French, was a talented dancer. She won an award for her performance in Fiddler on the Roof in 2004.

GV Loganathan

ENGINEERING PROFESSOR

The civil engineering professor was killed in Norris Hall. He was a leading academic in hydrology. The 51-year-old was born in Chennai, India, had been teaching at Virginia Tech since 1982. His brother, GV Palanivel, told the NDTV news channel in India: "We all feel like we have had an electric shock ... Our parents are elderly and have broken down completely."

Caitlin Hammaren

FRENCH STUDENT

Ms Hammaren, 19, was from New York. She was in her second year and was part of a student mentoring group at the university. John Latini, her principal from Minisink Valley High School, said: "She was one of the most outstanding individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator.

Ross Alameddine

ENGLISH STUDENT

Mr Alameddiane, 20, was from Massachusetts. He was in his second year and had recently chosen English as his main subject alongside French, business and information technology. He was killed in a French class. His mother, Lynette, questioned why it had taken more than 12 hours to inform her of her sons death.

Mary Read

FIRST-YEAR STUDENT

Ms Read, 19, from Virginia, shared her native country with her killer. She was born in South Korea into a American Air Force family. Her aunt Karen Kuppinger said she had only recently become comfortable with the sprawling 2,600-acre Tech campus and begun to make friends. She said: "I think she wanted to try to spread her wings." She was killed while in her French class.

Kevin Granata

PROFESSOR OF ENGINEERING

Professor Granata was described as one of the top five experts in bio-mechanics in America. He was studying the movement of victims of cerebral palsy. The lecturer in engineering science and mechanics had served in the military before conducting research into orthopaedics. His colleague Professor Demetri Tellonis said: "He was a wonderful family man."

Maxine Turner

FINAL-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENT

Ms Turner, from Virginia, was due to graduate this year in chemical engineering and had been already recruited by an international company. Her university profile lists her interests as martial arts, Shakespeare, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and helping at an animal shelter.

Matt La Porte

POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENT

Matt La Porte, 20, was from New Jersey and was a trained lifeguard. He listed The Who among his favourite bands. On his MySpace page, Mr La Porte called himself Mottull Oakenhawke and spoke of his love for heavy metal. He aspired to a commission in the US Air Force.

Jarrett Lee Lane

ENGINEERING STUDENT

Mr Lane, 22, was in his third year of a civil engineering course. He listed his interests as Christian alternative music and The Simpsons. Lane played the trombone, was in the athletics team, and played American football and basketball. Mr Lane's brother-in-law Daniel Farrell called him fun-loving and "full of spirit".

Daniel Perez Cueva

POLITICS STUDENT

Mr Perez, 21, from Peru, died while in a French lesson

Leslie Sherman

HISTORY STUDENT

Mr Sherman was a second year student of history and international studies.

Henry Lee

COMPUTING STUDENT

Mr Lee, from Virginia, was a first-year student in computer engineering and French, and listed his interests as raquetball and frisbee.

Juan Ortiz

POSTGRADUATE STUDENT

Juan Ramon Mr Ortiz, 26, was a graduate student in Civil Engineering. He was married to married to Liselle Vega Cortes and came from Puerto Rico.

Daniel O'Neil

ENGINEERING STUDENT

A graduate, 22, in engineering, he played guitar and wrote songs which he posted onresidenthippy. com. A friend, Steve Craveiro, said: "He would come home from school over the summer and talk about projects, about building bridges and stuff like that. He was pretty much destined to be extremely successful. He just didn't deserve to have happen what happened."

Jeremy Herbstritt

The 27-year-old was from Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.