Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was captaining the submersible that went missing Sunday while exploring Titanic’s debris, is a descendent of two first-class passengers who died when the famed ocean ship sank on her maiden voyage. Rush is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor Straus and his wife Ida Straus, two of the Titanic’s wealthiest passengers. Director James Cameron featured a fictionalized version of the Straus couple’s narrative in his legendary 1997 film about the Titanic’s sinking destiny. A touching scene in the film depicts an elderly couple embracing in bed as the floods rise around their cottage. According to the New York Times, Isidor Straus’s body was discovered at sea about two weeks after the Titanic fell. Ida Straus’s remains were never recovered. The New York Times cited historical data to prove Wendy Rush’s connection with the couple who perished on Titanic’s maiden voyage.
Who is Wendy Rush?
Wendy Rush is the communications director of Ocean Gate and a longtime board member of the company’s charity foundation, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is said to have taken part in three OceanGate missions to the Titanic debris in the previous two years. According to the New York Times, Wendy Rush, born Wendy Hollings Weik, married Stockton Rush in 1986.
Wendy Rush is derived from Minnie Strause, one of the Strauses’ daughters who married Dr. Richard Weil in 1905. According to Joan Adler, the executive director of the Straus Historical Society mentioned by the New York Times, their son, Richard Weil Jr., eventually served as president of Macy’s New York, and his son, Dr. Richard Weil III, is Rush’s father.
Why is the Titanic’s sinking in the news again?
The world is fascinated as a frantic rescue effort for a lost Titan submersible, with five people on board, near the site of the Titanic tragedy in the Atlantic Ocean starts underway. The current events surrounding the lost submersible and the race against time to find its potential survivors have gripped people all around the world.
