[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 63 (Thursday, April 19, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E790]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   OFFERING HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO THE VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES 
   REGARDING THE HORRIFIC VIOLENCE AT VIRGINIA TECH AND TO STUDENTS, 
  FACULTY, ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF AND THEIR FAMILIES WHO HAVE BEEN 
                                AFFECTED

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                               speech of

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 18, 2007

  Mr. TOWNS. 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.

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