Brian Bluhm

Brian Bluhm, 25, was a graduate student in civil engineering at Virginia Tech who was working toward a master's degree in water resources. He considered Blacksburg, Va., his hometown, but he was really from all over. He was born in Iowa and went to high school in Louisville, Ky. He spent his childhood in Detroit, where he became a rabid Tigers fan.

His next stop, friends say, was Maryland.

Mr. Bluhm was set to finish his courses and defend his master's thesis early this summer, and he had already accepted a job in Baltimore and found an apartment there, said his best friend, Michael Marshall, 25, of Richmond. He said Mr. Bluhm had planned to start his new job in July.

"He was a real lovable, genuine, peaceful person," said Mr. Marshall, who roomed with Mr. Bluhm while both were undergraduates at Virginia Tech.

Mr. Bluhm had been working as a graduate teaching assistant in the engineering department, a job that sometimes weighed on him, said Hannah Barnhill, 23, a close friend from Roanoke, Va.

"He struggled as a student teacher because he took it seriously and graded fairly, but hated giving students low grades, (even if they may have deserved them)," Ms. Barnhill wrote in an e-mail message from Peru, where she was traveling today.

Mr. Bluhm was a shy, quiet person who did not like the spotlight, Ms. Barnhill said. "But he loved his friends," she said. "He would light up whenever he saw someone he knew, and loved to joke around." She said he loved Hokie football and "adored" Virginia Tech.

"He had a memorable laugh (more of a chuckle) and a huge heart," Ms. Barnhill said. "He was a person of faith, a loyal friend, and a Hokie till the end. He deserved every good thing in the world, and we are all shocked and deeply saddened to have lost him."

Photo by Michael Marshall through NYTimes.com