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The OceanGate executive who was piloting the submersible on its fateful Sunday dive is married to the descendent of a couple who died in the very shipwreck his expedition aimed to see.
OceanGate founder and CEO Stockton Rush is married to Wendy Rush, the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Straus, who choose to remain onboard the sinking Titanic together so that others could escape to safety in their place.
They were the real-life inspiration behind the heartbreaking scene in James Cameron’s movie in which an elderly couple embraces in bed as water rushes into their room.
Rush is OceanGate’s communications director and has been involved with its Titanic expeditions since they began in 2021, according to her LinkedIn page. She is also a direct descendant of Minnie Weil, one of the Straus’ seven children.
The connection was first reported by the New York Times and confirmed through genealogical records.
Minnie married Richard Weil, Sr., and they had a son, Richard Jr. His son, Richard Weil III, is Rush’s father. Rush’s late grandfather was mentioned in her 1986 New York Times wedding announcement.
The Straus Historical Society, an educational nonprofit, tweeted a link to the Times’ story on Wednesday night, more than three days into the search for the submersible and mere hours before it was due to run out of oxygen.
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those aboard the lost submersible,” it wrote.
