Fabrikant was an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Concordia University in Montreal. He was also an abrasive and paranoid man who had grievances with nearly everyone he encountered be they faculty, staff or students. In August 1992, Fabrikant shot and killed 4 of his fellow professors while wounding a staff member.
I remember this horrific attack as I was living in Ottawa at the time where I was about to begin my second year as an undergraduate student at Carleton University.
Fast forward to February 2010 when a similar attack took place at the University of Alabama in Huntsville which claimed the lives of three professors while injuring three other people. Like Fabrikant, Amy Bishop, who had been an assistant professor of biology, was a paranoid woman who had grievances with nearly everyone she encountered be they faculty, staff or students.
At the time of the incident, I could not help but think of what had occurred at Concordia University nearly 20 years earlier. Indeed, I made a point of writing about it most likely on the blog of The American Spectator where I was contributing articles at the time.
Alas, I cannot find the substance of what I wrote. But what I do know is that it infuriated Fabrikant because he contacted me in the comments section. As it turned out, Fabrikant's thoughts (such as they were) had been posted online mainly by his son and had been for many years.
How he managed to maintain an internet presence let alone continue to write academic papers I'll never know. Needless to say, I had no desire to correspond with a mass murderer.
Now that he is gone, I will give him no further thought. Whatever thoughts I have regarding the Concordia University massacre will be with his victims and their families.
Phoivos Ziogas
Matthew Douglass
Michael Hogben
Aaron Jaan Saber
R.I.P.
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