‘Wife of the Titanic submarine pilot descended from couple died on Titanic’

According to archival records, Wendy Rush, the wife of Stockton Rush, the pilot of the OceanGate tourist submersible that imploded during a dive to the Titanic wreckage site, is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus. Isidor Straus was a prominent retailing magnate and co-owner of Macy’s department store. The couple tragically perished when the Titanic sank in 1912.

Wendy Rush, previously known as Wendy Hollings Weil, married Stockton Rush in 1986. The New York Times, which reported this connection, was unable to reach Wendy Rush for further comments.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced that Stockton Rush and the other four men aboard the submersible lost their lives when the craft imploded in the North Atlantic during the dive.

Isidor and Ida Straus gained recognition for the poignant story that they chose to remain together on the sinking ship, with Isidor refusing to board a lifeboat while women and children were still awaiting rescue. Their story was fictionalized in James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic,” which depicted an older couple embracing in bed as the waters rise.

Wendy Rush is a descendant of one of the Straus’ daughters named Minnie, who married Dr. Richard Weil in 1905. Their son, Richard Weil Jr., Wendy Rush’s grandfather, later became the president of Macy’s New York.

While Isidor Straus’s body was found at sea several weeks after the Titanic disaster, Ida Straus’s remains were never recovered.