United States President George W. Bush on Wednesday paid tribute to an Israeli professor who died while trying to save students during the shooting spree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Liviu Librescu, 76, was gunned down while blocking the doorway into his classroom long enough to allow students to jump from windows during the rampage that claimed 32 lives on Monday.

Bush honored Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, during a speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to mark the slaughter of 6 million Jews in Nazi Germany.

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"With the gunman set to enter his class, this brave professor blocked the door with his body while his students fled to safety," Bush said at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Virginia Tech shooting took place on a day that coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"On the day of remembrance, this Holocaust survivor gave his own life so others may live," he said. "We honor his memory, we take strength from his example."

Librescu was also posthumously honored in Romania on Wednesday.

Romanian President Traian Basescu awarded Librescu the highest national decoration for his "heroism" during the massacre.

Librescu was born in Romania, is an Israeli citizen and had lived
in the United States for 20 years. His body will be flown for burial
to Israel, his son confirmed.

On Monday, a student killed 32 people at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, U.S., before committing suicide. The shooting is considered the worst in modern U.S. history.