Stockton Rush

Rush was born into a wealthy family in San Francisco, California, on March 31, 1962.[2][3] He was the youngest of five children born to Richard Stockton Rush Jr. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Ellen Rush (née Davies) of San Francisco. His maternal grandfather was Ralph K. Davies. His maternal grandmother, Louise Davies, was a philanthropist and the namesake of the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.[4] Through his father, he was a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton and physician Benjamin Rush.[5]

As a child, he dreamt of becoming an astronaut and the first person on Mars,[6] and had an interest in aviation and aquatics. He began scuba diving at age 12, and became a commercial pilot at 18 years old.[7][8] He was later told his visual acuity would disqualify him from becoming a military aviator.[8]

In 1980, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy.[4] In 1984, Rush received a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from Princeton University.[2] In 1989, he received a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.[9][10]

After graduating from Princeton, Rush briefly worked for McDonnell Douglas as a flight-test engineer for the F-15 program before getting his MBA.[10] Later on, Rush worked as a venture capitalist at the San Francisco firm Peregrine Partners. He moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1989 to run the company Remote Control Technology based in Kirkland, Washington.[11] He claimed to have built an experimental plane later that year that he flew throughout his life.[12]

Rush was a hobbyist scuba diver and spent time diving in the waters of Puget Sound. In 2006, following his first trip on a submarine in British Columbia, Rush became interested in ocean exploration at lower depths.[7] Rush began looking into purchasing a submersible but discovered there were fewer than 100 privately-owned submarines worldwide and was unable to purchase one. He instead constructed a miniature submersible using blueprints provided to him by a retired U.S. Navy submarine commander. The vessel Rush constructed was 4 metres (13 ft) long and capable of diving to a depth of 10 metres (33 ft).[8] Following the construction of his miniature submersible he continued to try to purchase a submersible, including attempting to buy Steve Fossett's submersible vehicle following Fossett's 2007 death, but was unsuccessful.[6]

Around 2007, Rush began to explore the idea of founding his own submarine company.[6] He believed that there could be significant market for underwater ocean tourism and that it would provide an alternative to the significant time and technical gear required for scuba diving.[8] Rush founded OceanGate with business partner Guillermo Söhnlein in 2009. According to Rush, the goal of the company was to use commercial tourism to support the development of new deep-diving submersibles that would enable further commercial ventures including resource mining and disaster mitigation.[13] Söhnlein left OceanGate in 2013.[14][15]

While conducting market research for OceanGate, Rush determined that the private market for underwater exploration had floundered due to a public reputation for danger and increased regulatory requirements on the operation of tourist submarines and submersibles. He believed these reasons were "understandable but illogical," and that the perception of danger far exceeded the actual risk. In particular, he was critical of the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, a United States law which regulated the construction of ocean tourism vessels and prohibited dives below 150 feet, which Rush described as a law which "needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation".[8]

In 2018, Rush piloted an expedition with researchers and scientists in the San Juan Islands to observe the red sea urchin and the habitat of the sand lance.[16] In 2021, after several delays, Rush finally started his deep submergence business.[17] Prior to the June 2023 dive, Rush was sued by a couple in Florida over a planned 2018 dive to the Titanic that they claim was repeatedly cancelled and postponed. The couple claimed that they were unable to get a refund due to Rush's actions.[18][19] Following Rush's death, the couple dropped the lawsuit against him.[20][21]

Rush was on board the Titan, a submersible owned and designed by OceanGate, to view the wreck of the Titanic, when the vessel lost contact with the surface ship MV Polar Prince on June 18, 2023.[22] Search-and-rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada, and France.[23]

On June 22, after the discovery of a debris field approximately 490 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic,[24] OceanGate said it believed Rush and the four others aboard had "sadly been lost".[25] A United States Coast Guard press conference later confirmed that the debris found was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure hull, an implosion, resulting in the instantaneous deaths of all on board.[24]

In a 2022 podcast with CBS reporter David Pogue, Rush discussed his attitude toward what he perceived as excessive safety precautions. He said: "You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. 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."[26]

Rush married Wendy Weil, a pilot and teacher, in 1986.[27] The couple had two children.[28] Wendy Weil Rush is a great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Blun Straus, both of whom died in the sinking of the Titanic, through their daughter Minnie Straus Weil.[27][29] She is the former Director of Communications at OceanGate.[27]

• Image of Stockton Rush inside Cyclops I, on July 19, 2017.