Who were Isidor and Ida Straus? Stockton Rush’s wife's family history explored as surprising link surfaces

Stockton Rush is the CEO and founder of OceanGate. It is the company that developed the Titan submersible currently missing, presumably near the Titanic wreckage site in the North Atlantic. He is married to Wendy Rush and is currently also among the five people trapped in the underwater vessel.

Turns out, Stockton Rush’s wife is the direct descendent of Isidor and Ida Straus, who were two of the wealthiest people aboard the ocean liner Titanic that sank during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

In fact, these first-class passengers were among the 1500 people who died on that day. This sudden link has been found in archival records of the Straus Historical Society and National Archives amidst ongoing search and rescue missions for Stockton Rush and company.

---

Stockton Rush’s wife is the great great granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus

Stockton Rush's wife, Wendy, has a history with one of the wealthiest families of 20th century. She happens to be the great great granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Strauss, a rich and respectable couple on the Titanic.

Sources cite that Isidor was born in 1845 in Germany and immigrated to the USA in 1854. He was the co-founder and co-owner of Macy’s department store with his brother Nathan and possessed a big fortune. Mr. Straus also briefly served in the US House of Representatives. In addition to this, he was the President of the Educational Alliance and a member of the New York and New Jersey Bridge Commission.

His wife, on the other hand, was born in 1849 in Germany as Rosalie Ida Blun and moved to the USA in her teenage years. The couple married in 1871 and had seven children.

Aboard Titanic, they were accompanied by Ida's attendant, Ellen Bird, and Isidor's servant, John Farthing. While Bird survived, Farthing lost his life along with his employers. The Strauses boarded the Titanic while they were returning to the USA from their native Germany. Bird later provided detail accounts of that day.

Stockton Rush's wife comes from the lineage of one of Straus’ daughters, Minnie, who was married to Dr. Richard Weil. Their son was Richard Weil Jr., and his son was Dr. Richard Weil III, who happens to be Wendy’s father.

A Twitter user shares the link between Stockton Rush and two of the original Titanic passengers. (Image via Twitter/Culture Crave)

What’s even more interesting is their tragic love story. Turns out, as first-class passengers, Isidor and Ida Straus were offered seats on a lifeboat. However, when Mr. Straus saw that many women and children were in line behind them, he refused to get on one.

Seeing this, Ida Straus also decided to stay back with her husband. The married couple, who was together for more than forty years, were seen by survivors standing on the deck of the iconic ocean liner, arm-in-arm, as they went down.

In fact, it is believed within Hollywood circles that the story of the Strauses was one among many others that inspired filmmaker James Cameron to make the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic. Perhaps, it was the director's way of immortalizing the tragic love story of Isidor and Ida Straus in front of the entire world.

Remember the scene where an elderly couple cuddles in bed as the ocean water keeps rising around their lavish cabin? Well, that very poignant shot was inspired by Mr. and Mrs. Straus. Besides Cameron's film, their tragic love story also found a place in a 2012 book by June Hall McCash - A Titanic Love Story: Ida and Isidor Straus.

The Straus Park in New York City's upper west side Manhattan and New York Public School 198, which is popularly called Isidor and Ida Straus School and was also established in their honor.

While Ida Straus’s corpse was never traced, her husband’s lifeless body was discovered almost two weeks after the original incident along with a locket with both their initials inscribed and photos of two of their children inside. Isidor and Ida were 63 and 67 years old when they died. Mrs. Straus was later buried in New York's Woodlawn Cemetery where the cenotaph still reads:

"Many waters cannot quench love - neither can the floods drown it."

---

Who is Wendy Rush?

Wendy Rush is the wife of Stockton Rush. (Image via LinkedIn/Wendy Rush)

Stockton Rush, the missing owner of OceanGate, married his wife Wendy Hollings Weil in 1986, after which she took her husband’s surname and turned Wendy Rush.

According to her official LinkedIn page, she is OceanGate’s communications director and a long-time board member of its charitable foundation. Her profile also mentions that she was part of three OceanGate expeditions so far, two of which were to the Titanic wreckage in the last two years.