Who is Stockton Rush’s wife Wendy and were her relatives on the Titanic?
OCEANGATE CEO Stockton Rush - missing onboard the Titan sub - and his wife Wendy have for years operated deep-sea explorations.
Wendy Rush, a leading figure in the company, supervises its Titanic submarine expeditions and has been revealed as a descendant of a famous Titanic couple.
Who is Stockton Rush's wife Wendy?
A graduate of Princeton University, Wendy Rush née Hollings Weil is the communications director for OceanGate Inc.
Wendy also serves on the board of the company's charitable foundation.
According to her LinkedIn, she has participated in three OceanGate expeditions to the Titanic wreckage in the last two years.
From 2017 to October 2021, Wendy was the president of the OceanGate Foundation, and retains her position as a member of the foundation's executive board.
In 1986, then-pilot Wendy tied the knot with aerospace engineer Stockton Rush - the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world.
Similar to Wendy, Stockton is also a graduate of Princeton.
Before her affiliation with OceanGate, Wendy was a substitute teacher in Lancaster and an account manager with Ladd Associates.
Who were Isidor and Ida Straus?
It turns out that Wendy is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, who both died onboard the Titanic when it sank in 1912.
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They were two of the wealthiest passengers travelling on the ocean liner on its maiden voyage. Mr Straus was the owner of Macey's department store.
The couple were best known for their tragic love story onboard the doomed ship.
Survivors recalled that Isidor refused a seat on a lifeboat to save others and Ida bravely declared she would not leave her husband.
The love-struck pair were said to have been seen arm in arm as the Titanic went down.
James Cameron's 1997 Titanic film immortalised the couple's story in a fictionalised form featuring an older couple holding one another in bed as water rose in their cabin.
Isidor's body was found at sea two weeks later, while Ida's was never recovered.
When was OceanGate founded?
In 2009, Stockton Rush founded OceanGate, a Washington-based and privately held company that provides submersibles tourism, industry, research, and exploration.
The engineer explained at a press conference: "We're looking at doing 24-hour missions where you can take a nap in the back.
"We're all about giving people access to the ocean — we're not selling the sub."
In July 2021, the organization began embarking on voyages to visit the Titanic's remains in the Atlantic Ocean.
Tourists are able to take part in the explorations for $250,000.
On June 18, 2023, Stockton and four additional passengers went missing after a submersible from his company failed to return from its expedition of the Titanic wreckage.
At the time, an Oceangate spokesperson said in a statement: "For some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic.
"We pray for the safe return of the crew and passengers, and we will provide updates as they are available."
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Who is Stockton Rush related to?
Stockton Rush is a descendant of US founding fathers Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton.
Both figures were significant to the American Revolution and are signees of the Declaration of Independence.