Stockton Rush Age, Death, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Stockton Rush

• Stockton Rush was an American engineer, pilot, and businessman, who was the co-founder and CEO of OceanGate Inc. He died at the age of 61 in June 2023.

• He grew up in a wealthy family in San Francisco. ^[6]The New York Times ^[7]The Wall Street Journal
  

  Stockton Rush in his youth

• Ralph K. Davies, his maternal grandfather, was a well-known American businessman and political appointee, and Louise M. Davies, his maternal grandmother, was a philanthropist, and a concert hall in San Francisco called Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall was named after her. Stockton Rush is related to two important individuals from the early days of the United States, Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton. Benjamin and Richard were actively involved in the American Revolution and are recognized as signatories to the Declaration of Independence.

• When he was young, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut. When he turned 18 in 1980, he obtained his license to fly commercial airplanes.

• He had a desire to become a military pilot, but he couldn’t pursue that path because of his poor eyesight.

• Later, he relocated from San Francisco to Seattle and joined McDonnell Douglas, a company that designs and manufactures aircraft. He took on the role of a flight test engineer in the company to work on the F-15 Eagle jets.

• When he was 19 years old, he achieved the rating of DC-8 Type/Captain at the United Airlines Jet Training Institute.

• On the basis of archival records, Stockton’s wife, Wendy, is a descendant of two individuals who were first-class passengers on the ship Titanic, which sank in 1912. She is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor Straus, an American businessman and politician, and Isidor’s wife, Ida Straus, who was a homemaker. Isidor and Ida were among the wealthiest passengers aboard the Titanic. The couple lost their lives in the sinking of the ship. ^[8]The New York Times
  

  Isidor Straus and Ida Straus (right) whose roles were picturised in the Hollywood film ‘Titanic’ (left)

• In 2006, Rush constructed a submersible by purchasing parts from a private company and using blueprints given by a retired U.S. Navy submarine commander. His goal was to explore the waters of Puget Sound, which is a water body connected to the Pacific Ocean, without having to undergo scuba diving training. The submersible he built was 12 feet long and had the capability to dive to depths of up to 30 feet.

• In 2006, he had his first submarine dive in British Columbia.

• He was appointed as the director of BlueView Technologies located in Washington.

• In 2009, after seeing a growth in underwater ocean tourism, he founded OceanGate Inc. in collaboration with  his business partner Guillermo Söhnlein.
  

  Stockton Rush with Guillermo Söhnlein

• In an interview, Stockton said that the main goal of OceanGate was to use commercial tourism as a way to generate funds for the development of deep-diving submersibles. These submersibles would have the capability to support different commercial activities, including resource mining and disaster mitigation.

• In 2012, he established the OceanGate Foundation, a nonprofit organization to focus on advancing technology in the fields of marine science, history, and archaeology. The foundation’s primary objective was to facilitate research and exploration in these domains while providing support and resources.

• In an interview in 2017, he expressed his desire to become the first person to go on planet Mars.

• In 2018, he went on an expedition to the San Juan Islands alongside a team of scientists and researchers. The purpose of the expedition was to closely study sea urchins and assess any changes in the habitat of sand lance  fish.

• As of 2021, the cost for an individual to go on a chartered underwater expedition was approximately $250,000. ^[9]Hindustan Times

• In 2022, Rush, along with a group of four other individuals named Renata Rojas, a banker, Oisin Fanning, a businessman, Jaden Pan, a television professional, and Steve Ross, an oceanographer, went for a descent to explore the remains of the Titanic wreckage. However, during their expedition, they faced technical challenges specifically related to the pilot’s control, which complicated their exploration of the debris.

• During an interview, he discussed the concept of underwater ocean tourism using deep-diving submersibles and expressed that going on trips in the Titan submersible provided him with the sense of adventure he desired. He said,
  

  It really is a life-changing experience, and there aren’t a lot of things like that. Rather than spend $65,000 to climb Mount Everest, maybe die, and spend a month living in a miserable base camp, you can change your life in a week. I wanted to be sort of the Captain Kirk. I didn’t want to be the passenger in the back. And I realized that the ocean is the universe. That’s where life is.” ^[10]The New York Times

• According to Stockton, he was very adventurous and believed in taking risks. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
  

  I mean if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed, don’t get in your car, don’t do anything. At some point, you’re going to take some risk, and it really is a risk-reward question. I think I can do this just as safely by breaking the rules.” ^[11]The New York Times

• On 18 June 2023, a submersible named Titan disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately 400 nautical miles (740 km) from the coast of Newfoundland. The submersible was carrying a group of tourists, which included individuals like Hamish Harding, a businessman and explorer, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a deep-sea explorer, Shahzada Dawood, a businessman, Shahzada’s son Suleman Dawood, and Stockton Rush, the founder of OceanGate and co-pilot of Titan. They were on an expedition to observe the wreckage of the RMS Titanic. The United States military assisted in the search for the missing submersible. On 22 June 2023, it was announced that Titan had suffered an implosion, most likely during its descent, resulting in the immediate loss of all five individuals on board. ^[12]The New York Times
  

  An image of OceanGate’s Titan submersible under water