Thursday, April 19, 2007
Waleed Shaalan: Egyptian man came to Tech to work under professor who also was slain
Waleed Shaalan
- Age: 32
- Status: Ph.D. student
- Major: Civil engineering
- Hometown: Zagazig, Egypt
- Family: Wife, Amira, of Egypt. Son, Khaled, 1
- Blacksburg residence: Shared an apartment
Related
It was a fast-budding friendship.
Three Muslim men who lived at least some part of their lives in a Middle East country were studying at an American university.
Fahad Pasha, a junior in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech with roots in the United Arab Emirates, said Wednesday that he was close to roommates Waleed Shaalan, a graduate civil engineering student from Egypt, and Irfan Waseem, a graduate student from Pakistan.
On as many evenings as they could, they shared dinner together at their Blacksburg apartment.
On Monday, a campus gunman shot and killed Shaalan while he was in class with G.V. Loganathan, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Tech under whom Shaalan had come to Blacksburg to work, Pasha said Wednesday.
"He was probably the simplest and nicest guy you'd ever meet," Pasha said of Shaalan. "He might be stressed or angry but, if he would see someone, he would have this big smile on his face."
Shaalan is survived by his wife, Amira, of Egypt, and their young son, Khaled.
Pasha spent part of Wednesday packing Shaalan's clothing and belongings into suitcases, but it was tough going.
"I stumbled on a picture of him and his wife and, at that point, I had to leave the apartment," Pasha said.
-- Jeff Sturgeon
