Photos: Victims of the Virginia Tech massacreKEY POINTS:
One was an ardent advocate of composting at student restaurants. Another was a passionate baseball fan whose death was announced to a packed stadium.
The identities and personalities of further victims of the Virginia Tech shootings were made public yesterday.
Brian Bluhm, 25, a graduate student from Detroit, was weeks away from finishing his masters degree in water resources and was well prepared for his new life. He had a job to go to in Baltimore and had rented an apartment.
Instead, he was shot in an advanced hydrology class.
His death was announced during a game of the Detroit Tigers baseball game, a team he had followed since a young child.
In the same class was Julia Pryde, another graduate student, who was an ardent environmentalist.
She wrote a research paper for the university arguing that it should set up a composting scheme for waste from its kitchens.
Brian Benham, an assistant professor in Virginia Tech's Biological Systems Engineering, said: "She was an idealist, but she was practical as well. I used to tease her about having an old soul."
Emily Hilscher, a 19-year-old freshman majoring in animal and poultry sciences, was known around her hometown as an animal lover.
"She worked at a veterinarian's office and cared about them her whole life," said Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy, a family friend.
Hilscher apparently lived on the same dorm floor as victim Ryan Clark, a prefect in the dormitory, who was in his fifth year at Virginia Tech and a leader in the university's marching band.
Liviu 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.
Austin Cloyd, 19, from Illinois, was in her first year at the university, where her father, Bryan, also teaches.
She was studying international studies and "excelled in volleyball and basketball."
Rachael Hill, 18, was studying biology after attending a Christian high school. An only child, she was "popular, funny and had a penchant for shoes".
Her father, Guy Hill, said the family was too distraught to talk about Hill yesterday, but relatives were planning to have memorial events later in the week. "We just need some time here," he said tearfully.
Matthew Gwalteny, 24, from Virginia, was close to completing a masters degree in civil and environmental engineering.
Lauren McCain, 20, from New York State, described herself on her MySpace page as deeply religious and a fan of science fiction films. She was an international studies student.
Michael Pohle, 23, from New Jersey, was due to graduate in less than a fortnight after five years' study at Virginia Tech wanted to embark on a career in medical research.
The list of victims included the names of students who had come to Virginia from abroad.
Partahi Lumbantoruan, 34, from Indonesia, was studying for a civil engineering doctorate.
Lumbantoruan's family in Indonesia said they sold off property and cars to pay his tuition and that his goal was to become a teacher in the United States.
Minal Panchal, from Mumbai, India, was in the first year of a course on building science.
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