Widow descendant of ocean liner couple
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush's widow Wendy is the great-great-granddaughter of Ida and Isidor Straus, who died in the April 1912 Titanic disaster.
The wife of the submarine pilot who was killed along with four others last week on a mission to the remains of the Titanic is a direct descendant of a Jewish couple who perished on the famous ill-fated cruise ship.
The US Coast Guard confirmed last Friday that the small submarine, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, had suffered a “catastrophic implosion” in the ocean depths, ending a multinational search-and-rescue operation that captivated the world.
On board were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding and French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.
According to Jewish Telegraph UK, Stockton Rush’s widow Wendy Rush, who works at OceanGate in a communications role, is the great-great-granddaughter of Ida and Isidor Straus, who died in the April 1912 Titanic disaster.
“They are remembered for their bravery aboard the Titanic as it sank on its maiden voyage to New York,” Jewish Telegraph UK reported.
“Mr Straus refused a seat on a lifeboat – as women and children still remained aboard the doomed liner. And his wife was equally heroic, refusing to leave her husband of 40 years. She is quoted as saying, ‘I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so will we die, together’.
“She gave her fur coat to her maid and told her to save herself. They were last seen sitting arm in arm on a pair of deck chairs as the ship went down.”
The body of Isidor Straus, co-owner of New York department store Macy’s, was found around two weeks after the Titanic sank. His wife’s body was never found.
According to Jewish Telegraph UK, Stockton and Wendy Rush married in 1986. Wendy has herself participated in three missions to view the Titanic wreckage, located around 3.8km below sea level.
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