Missing Titan Submersible: Wife Of Pilot Is Descendant Of Couple Who Died On The Titanic

Wendy Rush married Stockton Rush in 1986, the New York Times reported.

Wendy Rush married Stockton Rush in 1986

Source : LinkedIn/Windy Rush

New Delhi: Stockton Rush's, the OceanGate chief executive who was aboard the missing submersible, wife Wendy Rush is a descendant of Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida Straus, two first-class passengers who died when the ocean liner sank in 1912, New York Times reported.

Wendy Rush, the wife of the pilot of the submersible that went missing on Sunday, is the great-great-granddaughter of Straus, who was the co-owner of Macy’s department store, According to a report in the New York Times. The first-class passengers were two of the wealthiest people onboard the Titanic.

Wendy Rush married Stockton Rush in 1986, the New York Times reported.

According to her LinkedIn Page, Rush has participated in three expeditions to the Titanic wreckage in the past two years. She is also the communications director at OceanGate- the company responsible for organizing the tour to the Titanic wreckage, and is a longtime board member of its charitable foundation. 

According to the report, Isidor Straus declined an opportunity to board a lifeboat as women and children were being evacuated from the sinking liner. She declared that she would not leave her husband behind. As per survivor testimonials, they were seen standing arm to arm on the Titanic’s deck as it went down, the report added. 

James Cameron, who directed the 1997 blockbuster hit Titanic, had included a fictionalised version of the Straus’ story, which had a shot of an elderly couple embracing each other in bed as the water levels rise inside the vessel. 

According to the New York Times, Rush is descended from one of the Strauses’ daughters, Minnie, who married Dr. Richard Weil in 1905. Their son, Richard Weil Jr., later served as president of Macy’s New York, and his son, Dr. Richard Weil III, is Ms. Rush’s father, according to Joan Adler, the executive director of the Straus Historical Society.

Isidor’s body was later found at sea two weeks later but Ida’s body was never found.