As Israel observed Holocaust Day, thousands of miles away, a Rumanian-born Holocaust survivor gave his life in another senseless murder - and apparently in an act of heroism. Among the 32 people killed by a lone gunman at Virginia Tech Monday is 77 year old mechanics professor, Liviu Librescu, a citizen of Israel. According to eyewitness accounts, Livrescu ran to the door of his classroom and blocked it with his body - preventing the gunman from entering but getting shot to death himself as a result...

Librescu is survived by his wife of 42 years, Marlena, who was with him in Virginia, and sons Aryeh and Joe who are in Israel... Asael Arad, an Israeli student who visited the widow after the tragedy, told Army Radio Tuesday that Marlena had been receiving e-mails from students who credited Prof. Librescu with saving their lives. “I lost my best friend,” the widow told a reporter.