Human Factor of the Virginia Tech Massacre

[mike435]

In this Thread we shall highlight the Human factor of the tragedy. Lets do this by posting pictures and small bios.

[mike435]

Ross Alameddine, 20, was a student from Saugus, Massachusetts. The sophomore English major was shot during French class, a family friend told The Associated Press. A Facebook page created in Alameddine's memory called him "an intelligent, funny, easygoing guy who will be greatly missed."

Jake Valentine of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote:
"I only went to high school with Ross for two years before we moved. We had 10th grade chemistry together, among other things, such as shooting the breeze before classes and at lunch. He'd always make class enjoyable with his humor, which even the teacher would acknowledge. There wasn't a mean bone in his body. He was one of the nicest, wittiest people you'll ever know. What strikes out most about him is that his Facebook status will always let people know how selfless he was. His last day started wishing one of his friends a happy birthday. He will be truly missed by all."

[mike435]

Christopher James Bishop, 35, taught German at Virginia Tech and helped oversee an exchange program with a German university. Bishop decided which German-language students at Virginia Tech could attend the Darmstadt University of Technology to improve their German. "He would teach them German in Blacksburg, and he would decide which students were able to study" abroad, Darmstadt spokesman Lars Rosumek told the AP. The school set up a book of condolences for students, staff and faculty to sign, along with information about the Virginia shootings. "Of course many persons knew him personally and are deeply, deeply shocked about his death," Rosumek said. Bishop earned bachelor's and master's degrees in German and was a Fulbright scholar at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. According to his Web site, Bishop spent four years living in Germany, where he "spent most of his time learning the language, teaching English, drinking large quantities of wheat beer, and wooing a certain fraulein." The "fraulein" was Bishop's wife, Stephanie Hofer, who also teaches in Virginia Tech's German program.
Tom Smither of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, wrote:
"Christopher 'Jamie' Bishop worked with us in the foreign language department at the University of North Carolina for a couple of years, and he was deeply loved by all of us here. We were saddened by his leaving us to go to Virginia Tech. We are absolutely devastated by his untimely death. He will be missed on this earth. God bless his soul and look after his lovely wife, Stephanie."

[mike435]

Ryan Clark, 22, was known as "Stack" to his friends in the Marching Virginians college band. The Virginia Tech senior came from Martinez in Georgia and was a "true example of 'The Spirit Of Tech'," according to a message posted on the band's Web site. He majored in biology and English, and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, according to the coroner in Columbia County, Georgia. Clark was a resident assistant at West Ambler Johnston Hall, the dormitory where he and another person were shot dead at 7:15 a.m. Monday. He had been planning to pursue a doctorate in psychology with a focus in cognitive neuroscience, according to the Marching Virginians Web site. ( Watch what Clark's twin brother and sister said about their grief )

Arielle Perlmutter of Buford, Georgia, wrote:
"I worked with Ryan Clark at Camp Big Heart, where we both spent part of our summers counseling kids and adults with special needs. At camp, Ryan was one of my closest friends. We had many inside jokes and spent a lot of time being silly and laughing. Ryan never had a frown on his face, and even when something was bothering him, he was only upset for a short time and moved back to his good old happy self. Ryan ran the dance/music program at camp and was constantly moving, singing and entertaining both the staff and campers. Ryan was very happy himself and was always working to make others happy. Camp Big Heart will never be the same without him, and our camp community will bear the scars of the loss for many years to come. Ryan was a gift in the lives of people who met him. He will be missed forever."

[mike435]

Daniel Perez Cueva, 21, from Peru, was killed while in a French class, his mother, Betty Cueva, told the AP. Perez Cuevas was a student of international relations, according to the Virginia Tech Web site. His father, Flavio Perez, spoke of the death earlier to RPP radio in Peru. He lives in Peru and said he was trying to obtain a humanitarian visa to the United States. He is separated from Cueva, who said she had lived in the United States for six years. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Lima said the student's father "will receive all the attention possible when he applies" for the visa.

Caitlin Hammaren, 19, of Westtown, New York, was a sophomore majoring in international studies and French, according to officials at her former school district. "She was just one of the most outstanding young individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator," John P. Latini, principal of Minisink Valley High School, told the AP. Hammaren graduated from the high school in 2005. "Caitlin was a leader among our students." Minisink Valley students and teachers shared their grief Tuesday at a counseling center set up in the school, Latini said.

[mike435]

Kevin Granata, age unknown, was one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country and was working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy, the head of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech said in an e-mail to the AP. He served in the military and conducted orthopedic research in hospitals before coming to Virginia Tech, the AP said. Granata's academic career included stints at Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, the University of Virginia and Wake Forest University. "With so many research projects and graduate students, he still found time to spend with his family, and he coached his children in many sports and extracurricular activities," engineering professor Demetri P. Telionis told the AP.

[mike435]

Emily Jane Hilscher, 19,a freshman majoring in animal and poultrysciences, was known around her hometown as an animal lover. "She worked at a veterinarian's office and cared about them her whole life," Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy, a family friend, told the AP. Hilscher, of Woodville, Virginia, was a freshman majoring in animal and poultry sciences. She lived on the same dorm floor as victim Ryan Clark, McCarthy said. A friend, Will Nachless, also 19, said Hilscher "was always very friendly. Before I even knew her, I thought she was very outgoing, friendly and helpful, and she was great in chemistry."

[mike435]

Matthew La Porte, 20, of Dumont, New Jersey, was studying political science and French at Virginia Tech. He was also a member of the Corps of Cadets, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets band, the Highty-Tighties and the U.S. Air Force ROTC, according to his MySpace page.

[mike435]

Jarrett Lane, 22, was a senior civil engineering student who was valedictorian of his high school class in tiny Narrows, Virginia, just 30 miles from Virginia Tech. His high school put up a memorial to Lane that included pictures, musical instruments and his athletic jerseys. Lane played the trombone, ran track, and played football and basketball at Narrows High School. "We're just kind of binding together as a family," principal Robert Stump told the AP. Lane's brother-in-law Daniel Farrell called Lane fun-loving and "full of spirit." "He had a caring heart and was a friend to everyone he met," Farrell said. "We are leaning on God's grace in these trying hours

[mike435]

. V. Loganathan, 51, was a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1982, he earned the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education, according to his biography on the Virginia Tech Web site. Loganathan, of Tamil Nadu, India, lived with his wife and children on Virginia Tech's campus, according to the Times of India.

Ken Ying of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote:
"Professor G.V. Loganathan was my professor when I was a graduate student in Virginia Tech. I worked with him for a research project and helped him with the computer lab management from 1985 to 1991. He was a kind and thoughtful gentleman. I always remember him for his elegant style and perfection in research and teaching. I learned a lot from him each time he gave me those helpful critiques on my works. It is a great loss of everyone from this tragedy. We just lost a great professor and a great friend. All my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. They just lost a great husband and a great father."

[mike435]

Mary Karen Read, 19, was born in South Korea into an Air Force family and lived in Texas and California before settling in the northern Virginia suburb of Annandale. Read considered a handful of colleges, including nearby George Mason University, before choosing Virginia Tech. It was a popular destination among her Annandale High School classmates, according to her aunt Karen Kuppinger. She had yet to declare a major. "I think she wanted to try to spread her wings," Kuppinger told the AP. She said her niece had struggled in adjusting to Tech's sprawling 2,600-acre campus. But she had recently begun making friends and looking into a sorority. Kuppinger said the family started calling Read as news reports surfaced. "After three or four hours passed and she hadn't picked up her cell phone or answered her e-mail ... we did get concerned," Kuppinger said. "We honestly thought she would pop up."

[mike435]

Reema Samaha was a first-year student at Virginia tech and went to the same high school in Centersville, Virginia, as the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui. Her father, Joseph, described her as a "shy girl till you got to know her." She was looking forward to majoring in urban planning with a minor in international relations because "she thought she could solve the problems of the world," her father said. Samaha, remembered as a beautiful and creative dancer, performed the weekend before the shootings, which marked the last time her parents saw her alive. "I keep her in my mind," her father said. "Her face is in my mental vision. It keeps me going."

[mike435]

Juan Ortiz was a student, according to Dr. William Knocke of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Jeremy Herbstritt was a graduate student who received a bachelor's degree from Penn State University.

Erin Peterson was a student from Centreville, Virginia.

[mike435]

As Jews worldwide honored on Monday the memory of those who were murdered in the Holocaust, a 76-year-old survivor sacrificed his life to save his students in Monday's shooting at Virginia Tech College that left 33 dead and over two dozen wounded.
Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio.
Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.
Virginia Tech shooting "My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu said in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."
Librescu was respected in his field, his son said.
"His work was his life in a sense," said Joe. "That was a good place for him to practice his research."
Librescu was sent to a labor camp in Russia as a child and saved by the townspeople. His father was deported by the Nazis.
As a scientist working under Nicolae Ceaucescu's oppressive regime, Librescu was forbidden to have any contact with sources outside Romania. He defied the ban, continuing to publish scientific articles secretly.
His Zionist affinities eventually caused him to be forced out of his job. In 1978, the Librescus emigrated from Romania to Israel, where they raised two sons. In 1986, the family moved to Virginia for Librescu's sabbatical. While they only planned to stay in the United States a year, but have lived there ever since.
Librescu's second son, Arie, told The Jerusalem Post that his father had served as an "ambassador" for Israel in a community with many Muslim residents, but few Israelis.
The Foreign Ministry has taken charge of flying Librescu's body back to Israel. The funeral is expected to take place in Ra'anana on Thursday, although that date has not been confirmed.
Meanwhile, police on Tuesday afternoon identified the gunman as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a South Korean citizen who was studying legally in the United States as an English major at Virginia Tech.
Earlier, Virginia Tech President Charles Steger said that the gunman in the second of two campus attacks was a student at the university, also defending the school's delay in warning students about what became the deadliest shooting rampage in US history.
While Steger did not explicitly say the student, who he identified as an Asian male, was also the gunman in the first shooting, he said he did not believe there was another shooter. The gunman struck down two people at a dormitory Monday before killing 30 more people at a campus building and finally killing himself with a shot to his head.
"We do know that he was an Asian male - this is the second incident - an Asian man who was a resident in one of our dormitories," said Steger in an interview with CNN, confirming for the first time that the killer was a student.
Some students said their first warning came more than two hours after the first shooting, in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m. By then the second shooting had begun.

[mike435]

Hi admin i just notied than format is only carried over when i paste in advanced mode
Quick reply does not keep formatting can you please Bolden the name of the victoms.