Virginia Man of the Year for 2007

Although many candidates were considered by each of the editiorial board members of The Virgininan Federalist, I am humbled on behalf of the Editorial Board to recognize Liviu Librescu as Virginia Man of the Year for 2007. His death on April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech was a characteristically heroic moment in a life of extraordinary accomplishment. Holding shut the door of his solid mechanics classroom in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech, Librescu prevented Cho Seung Hui from entering the classroom until most of his students had escaped, while shouting to them to hurry their escape.

Librescu's early life in Romania included deportation from his home to a Holocaust ghetto in Focsani, Romania and internment in a Soviet labor camp. Following the end of the Second World War he studied aerospace engineering at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and earned a Ph.D in fluid mechanics. When required to swear allegiance to the Communist Party of Romania, Librescu refused.

Librescu served as Professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics from September 1, 1985 until his death, contributing greatly to the Commonwealth and the students of Virginia Tech.

At a memorial service at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., President Bush noted to a crowd that included many survivors:

"That day we saw horror, but we also saw quiet acts of courage,”


“We saw this courage in a teacher named Liviu Librescu. With
the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the
door with his body while his students fled to safety. On the Day of
Remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so that others may live. And this morning we honor his memory and we take strength from his example."

Professor Librescu, through his courage, devotion to science and his students, and to the principles of freedom, has brought great credit to himself, and exemplified the highest traditions of Virginia Tech, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the United States of America.