Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate CEO, a descendant of US couple who died on Titanic: Report

Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, is a descendant of a US couple who died when the RMS Titanic sank in 1912, according to a New York Times report.

She is the great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, who were aboard the Titanic ocean liner which sank in April 1912, the report said.

Wendy Rush is serving as the Director of Communications and Expedition Team Member at OceanGate Expeditions, the company which operates a missing Titanic tourist submarine that has caught global attention, with rescuers racing against time to search for the five people on board. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the submersible, is among the five men.

Who was Isidor Straus?

Isidor Straus, who was born in 1845, co-owned the Macy’s department store. In James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic, he and his wife, Ida Straus, were shown as an old couple who decided to stay back when the ship sank. In one of the popular scenes in the movie, the New York couple is seen embracing each other in a bed as water enters their cabin.

According to Daily Mail, Wendy Rush’s great-grandparents had a chance to escape the 1912 tragedy on a lifeboat. However, Isidor Straus, who served as a US congressman, refused to leave until all women and children had deboarded the ill-fated ship while Ida Straus was adamant to stay with her husband.

The report stated that Ida Straus even gave her fur coat to her maid, Ellen Bird, in freezing temperatures as she left on a sailboat.

While Isidor Straus’ remains were found at the sea two weeks after the Titanic sank, his wife’s body could not be located, The New York Times reported.

Wendy Rush is the descendant of one of the daughters of the Straus couple. Born Wendy Hollings Weil, she got married to Stockton Rush in 1986 and has been part of three OceanGate expeditions, the report said.

The missing submersible, Titan, was headed for Titanic’s wreckage in the Atlantic when it lost contact on Sunday. It is carrying five people — Dubai-based British billionaire Hamish Harding; Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, a father and son from a prominent Pakistani family; French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and Stockton Rush.

READ MORE:

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• What could have happened to the missing Titanic expedition submarine

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