Wife of missing OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush is descendant of couple killed on Titanic in 1912
Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, is descendant of Isador and Ida Straus
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The wife of Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO who vanished Sunday on the tourist submersible that dove to view the Titanic wreckage before its catastrophic demise, is a descendant of two first-class passengers who died on the Titanic, Fox News confirmed Thursday.
His wife, Wendy Rush, is the great-great-granddaughter of Isador and Ida Straus, who were among more than 1,500 people who died after the iconic ship struck an iceberg and sank during a voyage through the Atlantic Ocean in 1912, Joan Adler of the Straus Historical Society said.
Isador Straus and his brother had acquired the Macy’s department store in the late-1800s. Rush is descended from one of the couple’s daughters, Minnie Strauss, who married Dr. Richard Weil; their son's son, Dr. Richard Weil III, is Wendy Rush’s father, Fox News is told.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Strauses are remembered for having chosen to remain on the ship together; Ida Straus refused to get on one of the few lifeboats as crews were trying to save women and children, Paul Kurzman, a great-grandson of theirs, told Fox News. James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster film "Titanic" depicted their love story featuring a scene of an elderly couple holding hands as they lay on their bed.
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The ill-fated White Star liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic in April 1912. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York Times earlier reported the family connection.
Wendy and Stockton Rush reportedly married in 1986, and she worked with her husband as the communications director for OceanGate, according to her LinkedIn page.
NY merchant Isador Straus was one of the 1,517 passengers who died when the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean April 14, 1912. (Getty Images)
She previously served as the president of the OceanGate Foundation, where she has served as a board member, her profile showed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ida Straus, who was born in 1849, was the wife of Isador Straus, co-owner of the Macy's department store. Both of the Strauses died on the Titanic in 1912. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Stockton Rush, 61, was one of the five passengers of OceanGate’s Titan submersible Sunday for what was expected to be an eight-hour descent to the Atlantic Ocean floor.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}About an hour and 45 minutes into their voyage, the sub lost contact with Canadian research vessel Polar Prince. A massive search and rescue operation began off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at around 5:40 p.m. – nearly three hours after the sub was expected to resurface.
United States Coast Guard officials announced Thursday that crews found wreckage from the sub not far from the Titanic site.