NEW YORK — The wife of the man who piloted the OceanGate submersible when it imploded during a dive this week at the Titanic wreckage site is a descendant of a wealthy couple who died when the famous ocean liner sank in 1912.
The files show that Wendy Rush, wife of Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s CEO, is a great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, The New York Times reported Thursday. Straus was a retail magnate, part owner of Macy’s department store.
Born Wendy Hollings Weil, Wendy Rush married Stockton Rush in 1986, according to their wedding announcement. The Times said it was unable to contact Wendy Rush at this time for further comment.
The US Coast Guard announced Thursday that Stockton Rush and four other men aboard the sub were killed when the vessel presumably imploded a few days ago in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Isidor and Ida Straus have become known for a Titanic story in which they supposedly decided to die together as the ship sank, arm in arm. Survivors said Isidor Straus refused to board a lifeboat when women and children were still waiting to be rescued, and her wife of four decades said she was not going to abandon her husband.
Director James Cameron immortalized a fictionalized version of their story in his 1997 film about the tragedy, which shows a scene of an elderly couple embracing in bed as the ship sinks.
The newspaper said that Wendy Rush is descended from one of the Strauss’ daughters, Minnie. She married Dr. Richard Weil in 1905, and her son, Richard Weil Jr., Wendy Rush’s grandfather, was president of Macy’s in New York.
The body of Isidor Straus was found at sea several weeks after the tragedy, according to the Times archives. The remains of Ida Straus were not recovered.
