Virginia Tech Victims
A Day of Remembrance—looking back at some Virginia Tech victims
Two years ago, a gunman ended the lives of 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech. We recall some of the victims below and remember all of the vibrant lives that were senselessly lost on that day.
Ross Abdallah Alameddine
Alameddine, 20, of Saugus, Massachussetts, was a sophomore who had just declared English as his major.
Friends created a memorial page on Facebook.com that described Alameddine as "an intelligent, funny, easygoing guy."
"You're such an amazing kid, Ross," wrote Zach Allen, who along with Alameddine attended Austin Preparatory School in Reading, Mass. "You always made me smile, and you always knew the right thing to do or say to cheer anyone up."
Alameddine was killed in the classroom building, according to Robert Palumbo, a family friend who answered the phone at the Alameddine residence Tuesday.
Alameddine's mother, Lynnette Alameddine said she was outraged by how victims' relatives were notified of the shooting.
"It happened in the morning and I did not hear (about her son's death) until a quarter to 11 at night," she said. "That was outrageous. Two kids died, and then they shoot a whole bunch of them, including my son."
View Ross' tribute and sign his memory book
Ryan Clark
Clark was called "Stack" by his friends, many of whom he met as a resident assistant at Ambler Johnson Hall, where the first shootings took place.
Clark, 22, was from Martinez, Georgia, just outside Augusta. He was a fifth-year student working toward degrees in biology and English, and a member of the Marching Virginians band.
"He was just one of the greatest people you could possibly know," friend Gregory Walton, 25, said after learning from an ambulance driver that Clark was among the dead.
"He was always smiling, always laughing. I don't think I ever saw him mad in the five years I knew him."
View Ryan's tribute and sign his memory book
Caitlin Hammaren
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," said John P. Latini, principal of Minisink Valley High School, where she graduated 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.
Daniel Perez Cueva
Perez Cueva, 21, from Peru, was killed while in a French class, said his mother, Betty Cueva, who was reached by telephone at the youth's listed telephone number.
Perez Cueva 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 from the U.S. consulate here. 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.
Daniel O'Neil
O'Neil, 22, was a graduate student in engineering and played guitar and wrote his own songs, which he posted on a Web site, http://www.residenthippy.com.
Friend Steve Craveiro described him as smart, responsible and a hard worker, someone who never got into trouble.
"He would come home from school over the summer and talk about projects, about building bridges and stuff like that," Craveiro said. "He loved his family. He was pretty much destined to be extremely successful. He just didn't deserve to have happen what happened."
O'Neil graduated in 2002 from Lincoln High School in Rhode Island and graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., before heading to Virginia Tech, where he was also a teaching assistant, Craveiro said.
View Daniel's tribute and sign his memory book
Christopher James Bishop
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 said.
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.
View Christopher's tribute and sign his memory book
Liviu Librescu
Librescu, an Israeli engineering and math lecturer, was known for his research, but his son said the Holocaust survivor will be remembered as a hero for protecting students as the gunman tried to enter his classroom.
Librescu taught at Virginia Tech for 20 years and had an international reputation for his work in aeronautical engineering.
"His research has enabled better aircraft, superior composite materials, and more robust aerospace structures," said Ishwar K. Puri, the head of the engineering science and mechanics department.
After surviving the Nazi killings, Librescu escaped from Communist Romania and made his way to the United States before he was killed in Monday's massacre, which coincided with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Librescu's son, Joe, said his father's students sent e-mails detailing how the professor saved their lives by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before Librescu was fatally shot.
"My father blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Librescu's son, Joe Librescu, said Tuesday in a telephone interview from his home outside of Tel Aviv. "Students started opening windows and jumping out."
View Liviu's tribute and sign his memory book
Kevin Granata
Granata, a professor of engineering science and mechanics, served in the military continued...
April 16, 2007
Virginia Tech Victims
Memory Book
“All of you will be in our prayers and thoughts!”
Posted by: Suzette & Chris Lowe
