The sons of Prof. Liviu Librescu have begun to flesh out the details of their murdered father’s life as they prepare to bring his body back to Israel for burial. The heroic story begins in Romania, where he survived the Holocaust as a child. He and his wife lived under Communism in Romania until then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin intervened with Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu to allow Librescu’s aliyah.

Librescu and his wife lived in Israel for six years before moving to Blacksburg, Virginia to take the position he held until his death. He died barring the door with his own body to keep out the shooter and gain time for his students to flee or protect themselves.