{{Short description|American businessman (1962–2023)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Stockton Rush | image = Stockton Rush (cropped 2).png | alt = | caption = Rush in 2015 | birth_name = Richard Stockton Rush III | birth_date = {{Birth date|1962|3|31}} | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|6|18|1962|3|31}} | death_place = North Atlantic Ocean | death_cause = Implosion of ''Titan'' submersible | occupation = {{hlist|Businessman}} | education = {{plainlist| *Princeton University (BSE) *University of California, Berkeley (MBA) }} | title = Co-founder and CEO of OceanGate | term = 2009–2023 | spouse = {{marriage|Wendy Weil|1986}} | children = 2 | relatives = Ralph K. Davies (grandfather) | module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Stockton Rush Voice (Enhanced).wav|title=Stockton Rush's voice|type=speech|description=On the benefits of oceanic exploration<br />Recorded March 2015}} }}
'''Richard Stockton Rush III''' (March 31, 1962 – June 18, 2023) was an American businessman who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of OceanGate, a deep-sea exploration company.
After graduation from Princeton University, Rush worked for McDonnell Douglas as a flight test engineer on their F-15 program. He later was a board member for BlueView Technologies and the Museum of Flight.<ref>{{cite news |department=Alumni News |last=Mazarakis |first=Anna |date=2023-06-23 |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/stockton-rush-84-titanic-titan-submersible-adventurer |title=Big Dreams and Daring Marked the Life of Stockton Rush '84 |work=Princeton Alumni Weekly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626183419/https://paw.princeton.edu/article/stockton-rush-84-titanic-titan-submersible-adventurer |archive-date=2023-06-26}}</ref> In 2009, he created the company OceanGate with Guillermo Söhnlein, who departed the company in 2013.
On June 18, 2023, Rush died along with four others when OceanGate's submersible ''Titan'' imploded during an attempt to visit the wreck of the ''Titanic''. A report by the US Coast Guard dated August 4, 2025, found that Rush "exhibited negligence" contributing to the deaths and could have been found criminally liable, had he survived.<ref>{{cite news |department=US Coast Guard |title=Report of the Marine Board of Investigation Into the Implosion of the Submersible TITAN |date=2025-08-05 |url=https://media.defense.gov/2025/Aug/05/2003773004/-1/-1/0/SUBMERSIBLE%20TITAN%20MBI%20REPORT%20(04AUG2025).PDF}}</ref>
==Early life== Richard Stockton Rush III was born on March 31, 1962, into a wealthy family in San Francisco, California,<ref name = Roberts>{{Cite news |last1=Roberts|first1=Sam|date=June 22, 2023 |title=Stockton Rush, Pilot of the Titan Submersible, Declared Dead at 61 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/us/stockton-rush-dead.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230622211508/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/us/stockton-rush-dead.html |archive-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/stockton-rush-founder-titanic-submersible-company-5c59e2a7 |title=Stockton Rush, Founder of Titanic Submersible Company, Saw Opportunity in Undersea Tourism |first1=Scott |last1=Calvert |first2=Arian |last2=Campo-Flores |date=June 22, 2023 |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622012452/https://www.wsj.com/articles/stockton-rush-founder-titanic-submersible-company-5c59e2a7 |url-status=live}}</ref> the youngest of five children born to Richard Stockton Rush Jr. and Ellen (née Davies).<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-12-08 |title=Missing Titanic submersible CEO is from prominent SF family |newspaper=Sfgate |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |access-date=2024-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208135729/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |archive-date=December 8, 2023 |last1=Dowd |first1=Katie }}</ref> His mother was a native of San Francisco, while his father was born in Philadelphia.<!-- November 15, 1930 – January 1, 2000, graduated from Princeton University in 1953 and served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1953 to 1955 per https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/07/classified/paid-notice-deaths-rush-stockton.html --> His maternal grandfather was businessman Ralph K. Davies.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-12-08 |title=Missing Titanic submersible CEO is from prominent SF family |newspaper=Sfgate |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |access-date=2024-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208135729/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |archive-date=December 8, 2023 |last1=Dowd |first1=Katie }}</ref> His maternal grandmother, Louise Davies, was a philanthropist and the namesake of San Francisco's Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall.<ref name="The New York Times 1986">{{Cite news |date=July 6, 1986 |title=Wendy Weil Is the Bride Of Engineer |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/06/style/wendy-weil-is-the-bride-of-engineer.html |access-date=June 23, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622194559/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/06/style/wendy-weil-is-the-bride-of-engineer.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Through his father, he was a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton and physician Benjamin Rush.<ref name =SFG>{{cite news | last =Dowd | first =Katie | title =Missing Titanic submersible CEO Stockton Rush is from prominent San Francisco family | newspaper =SFGate | location = | pages = | language = | publisher = | date =June 21, 2023 | url =https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php | accessdate =June 22, 2023 | url-access =limited | archive-date =June 21, 2023 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20230621191805/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php | url-status =live }}</ref>
His childhood home in San Francisco was unintentionally damaged during a synchronised bombing of Yugoslav embassies in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//RTV/1967/01/29/BGY506140751/?s=bombings|publisher=itnsource.com|title=USA: BOMB DAMAGE AT YUGOSLAVE CONSULATE |access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1967-01-30 |author=AAP-Reuter |title=Yugoslavian Embassies bombed |page=1 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/106959524 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=40 |issue=11599}}</ref> The explosion went off at midnight in a walkway between the consulate and his home, blowing holes in the walls of both the consulate and the room in which his 6-year-old sister Catherine was sleeping.<ref>{{cite news |date=1967-01-30 |author=n.s. |title=6 Yugoslav Missions Bombed |page=4ES |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19670130.1.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------- |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |issn=1068-5936 |volume=94 |issue=30}}</ref>
As a child, Rush wanted to become an astronaut and the first person on Mars,<ref name="FastCompany17">{{cite web |last=Locker |first=Melissa |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/40406673/the-man-who-wants-to-send-us-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean |date=2017-04-14 |title=The Man Who Wants To Send Us To The Bottom Of The Ocean |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622221445/https://www.fastcompany.com/40406673/the-man-who-wants-to-send-us-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |website=Fast Company}}</ref> and had an interest in aviation and aquatics. He began scuba diving at age 12, and became a commercial pilot at 18 years old.<ref name = 'Timmins' /><ref name=Smithsonian-2019 /> He was later told his visual acuity would disqualify him from becoming a military aviator.<ref name=Smithsonian-2019>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/worlds-first-deep-diving-submarine-plans-tourists-see-titanic-180972179/ |title=A Deep Dive Into the Plans to Take Tourists to the 'Titanic' |last=Perrottet |first=Tony |date=June 2019 |magazine=Smithsonian |access-date=June 21, 2023}}</ref> In 1980, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.<ref name="The New York Times 1986" />
Rush received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree with a major in aerospace engineering from Princeton University in 1984 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.<ref name="Roberts" /><ref name="CNN21st">{{cite web |last=Morrow |first=Allison |date=June 21, 2023 |title=Stockton Rush: What we know about the Titan submersible's pilot |department=CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/21/business/stockton-rush-titanic-submersible/index.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=June 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621224552/https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/21/business/stockton-rush-titanic-submersible/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="TheIndependent23">{{cite news |last=Sommerlad |first=Joe |date=June 22, 2023 |title=Who is Stockton Rush? The OceanGate CEO missing in Titanic tourist submarine |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stockton-rush-ceo-of-oceangate-missing-submarine-b2361360.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en |archive-date=June 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621164728/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stockton-rush-ceo-of-oceangate-missing-submarine-b2361360.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Career== After graduating from Princeton, Rush worked briefly for McDonnell Douglas as a flight-test engineer for the F-15 program before getting his MBA.<ref name="TheIndependent23"/> Later on, Rush worked as a venture capitalist for the San Francisco company Peregrine Partners.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-12-08 |title=Missing Titanic submersible CEO is from prominent SF family |newspaper=Sfgate |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |access-date=2024-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208135729/https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/missing-titanic-submersible-ceo-sf-family-18162447.php |archive-date=December 8, 2023 |last1=Dowd |first1=Katie }}</ref> He relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1989 to manage the company ''Remote Control Technology'' based in Kirkland, Washington.<ref name="Reznick">{{cite news |last1=Reznick |first1=Alisa |title=Company plans carbon-fiber sub to dive deeply, cheaply |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/company-plans-carbon-fiber-sub-to-dive-deeply-cheaply/ |access-date=June 23, 2023 |publisher=The Seattle Times |date=October 31, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622130420/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/company-plans-carbon-fiber-sub-to-dive-deeply-cheaply/ |archive-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref> He claimed to have built an experimental airplane later that year that he flew throughout his life.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Victor |first=Daniel |date=June 20, 2023 |title=Titan Pilot Is a Booster of Deep-Sea Tourism |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/us/titan-pilot-stockton-rush.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622005759/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/us/titan-pilot-stockton-rush.html |url-status=live |url-access=limited}}</ref>
Rush was a hobbyist scuba diver and spent time diving in the waters of Puget Sound. In 2006, after his first excursion in a submarine in British Columbia, Rush became interested in ocean exploration at lower depths.<ref name = 'Timmins'>{{Cite news |last=Timmins |first=Beth |date=May 9, 2017 |title=Stockton Rush: Meet the man leading tours of the Titanic |language=en |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/titanic-visit-stockton-rush-ocean-gate-commercial-submarines-ocean-floor-a7718896.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-date=May 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511091454/https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/titanic-visit-stockton-rush-ocean-gate-commercial-submarines-ocean-floor-a7718896.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Rush began considering purchasing a submersible but discovered there were fewer than 100 privately owned submarines worldwide and was unable to purchase one. Instead, a company in London offered to sell parts for a miniature submersible that could be assembled using blueprints reportedly created by a retired U.S. Navy submarine commander. The vessel Rush constructed was {{convert|4|m|ft}} long and capable of diving to a depth of {{convert|10|m|ft}}.<ref name=Smithsonian-2019/> After the construction of his miniature submersible he continued to try to purchase a submersible, including attempting to buy Steve Fossett's submersible vehicle after Fossett's 2007 death, but was unsuccessful.<ref name="FastCompany17"/>
Around 2007, Rush began to explore the idea of founding his own submarine company.<ref name="FastCompany17"/> 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.<ref name=Smithsonian-2019/> Rush founded OceanGate with business partner Guillermo Söhnlein in 2009. According to Rush, the goal of the company was to use commercial tourism to fund the development of new deep-diving submersibles that would enable further commercial ventures including resource mining and disaster mitigation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Betts |first=Anna |date=June 20, 2023 |title=OceanGate Expeditions Was Created to Explore Deep Waters |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/us/oceangate-lost-submarine-titanic.html |access-date=June 22, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621144010/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/us/oceangate-lost-submarine-titanic.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Söhnlein left OceanGate in 2013.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/us/stockton-rush-oceangate-titanic-sub.html |title=OceanGate Founder Pushed to Expand Deep Sea Travel Despite Chorus of Concerns |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2023-06-23 |first1=Shawn |last1=Hubler |first2=Nicholas |last2=Bogel-Burroughs |first3=Anna |last3=Betts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623235104/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/us/stockton-rush-oceangate-titanic-sub.html |archive-date=2023-06-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cornwell |first=Paige |date=2023-06-24 |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/oceangate-cofounder-recalls-origins-defends-late-ceos-approach-to-safety/ |title=OceanGate cofounder recalls origins, defends late CEO's approach to safety |newspaper=The Seattle Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230625024849/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/oceangate-cofounder-recalls-origins-defends-late-ceos-approach-to-safety/ |archive-date=2023-06-25}}</ref>
While performing 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 for the operation of tourist submarines and submersibles. He believed these reasons were "understandable but illogical", and that the perception of danger much 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 {{convert|150| feet}}, which Rush described as a law which "needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation".<ref name=Smithsonian-2019/>
In 2016, exploring the sunken Andrea Doria on the ''Cyclops I'', David Lochridge reported how Rush "smashed straight down" into the wreckage of the sunken ocean liner, an episode recounted during a Coast Guard hearing in 2024.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bogel-Burroughs |first=Nicholas |date=September 17, 2024 |title=OceanGate Founder Crashed a Submersible Years Before Titan Disaster |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/titan-submersible-coast-guard-hearing.html |access-date=September 17, 2024 |work=New York Times}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Long |first=Katherine |date= September 15, 2018 |title=In a five-person submarine, scientists in Friday Harbor unravel the mysteries of the Salish Sea |language=en-US |work=The Seattle Times |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/in-a-five-person-submarine-scientists-in-friday-harbor-unravel-the-mysteries-of-the-salish-sea |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622233957/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/in-a-five-person-submarine-scientists-in-friday-harbor-unravel-the-mysteries-of-the-salish-sea |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021, after several delays, Rush finally started his deep submergence business.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Boyle |first1=Alan |title=OceanGate sub makes first dive to Titanic wreck site and captures photos of debris |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2021/oceangate-sub-makes-first-dive-titanic-wreck-site-captures-photos-debris/ |website=Geekwire |access-date=July 3, 2023 |date=July 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210713122148/https://www.geekwire.com/2021/oceangate-sub-makes-first-dive-titanic-wreck-site-captures-photos-debris/ |archive-date=2021-07-13}}</ref> Prior to the June 2023 dive, Rush was sued for $210,000 by a couple in Florida concerning a planned 2018 dive to the ''Titanic'' that they claim was repeatedly canceled and postponed. The couple claimed that they were unable to get a refund due to Rush's actions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Morgan |first1=Silas |title=CEO of company that owns missing Titanic tour sub faces fraud lawsuit by Winter Park couple |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/06/21/titanic-sub-winter-park-lawsuit/ |website=Orlando Sentinel |access-date=25 June 2023 |date=21 June 2023 |archive-date=June 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623224024/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/06/21/titanic-sub-winter-park-lawsuit/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Kari |first=Doug |url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/lawsuits-foreshadowed-titanic-sub-disaster-2798465/ |title=Lawsuits foreshadowed Titanic sub disaster |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627050237/https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/lawsuits-foreshadowed-titanic-sub-disaster-2798465/ |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=June 23, 2023 }}</ref> After Rush's death, the couple dropped the lawsuit out of respect for the lives lost on the ''Titan''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hurley |first=Bevan |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oceangate-stockton-rush-lawsuit-hagle-florida-b2364470.html |title=Florida couple drop lawsuit against OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627045601/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oceangate-stockton-rush-lawsuit-hagle-florida-b2364470.html |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |work=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Greenberg |first=Chloe |url=https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/winter-park-couple-drop-lawsuit-against-oceangate-ceo-in-light-of-his-death-34498021 |title=Winter Park couple drop lawsuit against OceanGate CEO in light of his death |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627050312/https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/winter-park-couple-drop-lawsuit-against-oceangate-ceo-in-light-of-his-death-34498021 |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |work=Orlando Weekly}}</ref>
In a 2022 podcast with CBS reporter David Pogue, Rush discussed his views on the balance between risk and safety:<blockquote>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.<ref name="safe">{{cite web |last=Slisco |first=Aila |url=https://www.newsweek.com/stockton-rush-was-issued-dire-warning-submersible-titanic-expedition-1807992 | title=Stockton Rush was issued a dire warning on submersible, Titanic expedition | website=Newsweek | date=June 20, 2023 | access-date=June 22, 2023 | archive-date=June 22, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622233202/https://www.newsweek.com/stockton-rush-was-issued-dire-warning-submersible-titanic-expedition-1807992 | url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>
==Personal life== Rush married pilot and teacher Wendy Weil in 1986, and they had two children.<ref name="Patil 2023">{{cite news|last1=Patil|first1=Anushka|title=Submersible Pilot's Spouse Is Descended From a Famous Titanic Couple|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/us/wendy-stockton-rush-titanic-missing-submersible.html|work=The New York Times|date=June 21, 2023|url-access=limited|access-date=June 22, 2023|archive-date=June 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622162612/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/us/wendy-stockton-rush-titanic-missing-submersible.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Darlingberg |first=Dwomoh |url=https://thedistin.com/2023/06/22/stockton-rushs-married-wife-and-children-meet-his-partner-wendy-and-their-kids-son-and-daughter/ |title=Stockton Rush's Married Wife and Children: Meet His Partner Wendy and Their Kids |work=Thedistin |publisher=TheDistin.com |date=June 22, 2023 |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622132946/https://thedistin.com/2023/06/22/stockton-rushs-married-wife-and-children-meet-his-partner-wendy-and-their-kids-son-and-daughter/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Rush and Weil both attended Princeton University, where they met.<ref name="PrincetonAlumni">{{cite news|title=Big Dreams and Daring Marked the Life of Stockton Rush '84|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/big-dreams-and-daring-marked-life-stockton-rush-84|work=Princeton Alumni Weekly|access-date=June 21, 2025}}</ref> Weil is the great-great-granddaughter of Isidor and Ida Blun Straus, both of whom died in the sinking of the ''Titanic''.<ref name="Patil 2023" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=France |first=Lisa Respers |date=2023-06-22 |title=Wife of submersible pilot is a descendant from Titanic couple who perished |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/entertainment/wendy-rush-titanic-sub/index.html |access-date=2023-06-27 |website=CNN |archive-date=June 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626105406/https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/22/entertainment/wendy-rush-titanic-sub/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She was the Director of Communications at OceanGate.<ref name="Patil 2023" />
Rush became a commercial pilot at age 18 and claimed to have become the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world at age 19 in 1981.<ref name="FastCompany">{{cite news|title=The Man Who Wants To Send Us To The Bottom Of The Ocean|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/40406673/the-man-who-wants-to-send-us-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean|work=Fast Company|date=July 2, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2025}}</ref><ref name="FoxNews">{{cite web |title=Haunting photos show late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush test diving his Titan sub |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/haunting-photos-show-late-oceangate-ceo-stockton-rush-test-diving-his-titan-sub |publisher=Fox News |date=June 22, 2023 |access-date=June 21, 2025}}</ref> In 1989, he built a Glasair III experimental aircraft, which he continued to own and fly throughout his life.<ref name="FastCompany" /><ref name="FoxNews" /> Rush was also a lifelong scuba diving enthusiast, having begun diving at age 12.<ref name="PrincetonAlumni" />
==''Titan'' expedition and death== {{Main|Titan submersible implosion}} [[File:Titan submersible on the ocean floor.jpg|thumb|Wreckage of ''Titan'' on the ocean floor, 22 June 2023]] Rush was in 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.<ref name="SkyNews22">{{cite web |date=June 19, 2023 |title=What we know about the passengers on board missing Titanic submersible |url=https://news.sky.com/story/what-we-know-about-the-passengers-on-board-missing-titanic-submersible-12905596 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230619223319/https://news.sky.com/story/what-we-know-about-the-passengers-on-board-missing-titanic-submersible-12905596 |archive-date=June 19, 2023 |access-date=June 20, 2023 |website=Sky News |language=en}}</ref> Search and rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada, and France.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Henley |first1=Jon |date=June 21, 2023 |title=Titanic sub live updates: vessel may have less than 20 hours of oxygen left, says US Coast Guard, as search continues |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/21/titanic-sub-live-updates-search-us-coast-guard-submarine-submersible |access-date=June 21, 2023}}</ref>
On June 22, after the discovery of a debris field approximately {{convert|1,600|ft|order=flip}} from the bow of the ''Titanic'',<ref name="Chao-Fong 2023">{{cite news |last=Chao-Fong |first=Léonie |date=June 22, 2023 |title=Titan sub: crew have died after catastrophic loss of pressure chamber, US Coast Guard confirms – latest updates |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/22/titanic-sub-live-updates-search-titan-missing-submarine-submersible-rescue-us-coast-guard-latest-news |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622045846/https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jun/22/titanic-sub-live-updates-search-titan-missing-submarine-submersible-rescue-us-coast-guard-latest-news |url-status=live }}</ref> OceanGate said it believed Rush and the four others aboard had died.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Regan |first1=Helen |last2=Renton |first2=Adam |last3=Picheta |first3=Rob |last4=Sangal |first4=Aditi |last5=Hammond |first5=Elise |last6=Meyer |first6=Matt |date=June 22, 2023 |title=Missing Titanic sub crew believed to be dead, tour company says |work=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-22-23/ |access-date=June 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622185019/https://edition.cnn.com/americas/live-news/titanic-missing-sub-oceangate-06-22-23/ |archive-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref> 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 aboard.<ref name="Chao-Fong 2023" />
==See also== *List of inventors killed by their own invention *List of solved missing person cases (2020s)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} {{wikiquote}} *{{cite web |first=Balazs |last=Gardi |url=https://media.newyorker.com/photos/649df383ada160419b41d7d6/master/w_1600,c_limit/Taub-OceanGate-4.jpg |title=Image of Stockton Rush inside Cyclops I, on July 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701103509/https://media.newyorker.com/photos/649df383ada160419b41d7d6/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Taub-OceanGate-4.jpg |archive-date=2023-07-01}} *{{cite magazine |last=Taub |first=Ben |others=photographs by Balasz Gardi |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/a-reporter-at-large/the-titan-submersible-was-an-accident-waiting-to-happen |title=The Titan Submersible Was 'an Accident Waiting to Happen' |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2023-07-01}}
{{Titan submersible implosion}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Stockton}} Category:1962 births Category:2023 deaths
Category:Sailors from California Category:21st-century American businesspeople Category:21st-century American engineers Category:Businesspeople from San Francisco Category:Businesspeople from Washington (state)<!-- his business OceanGate based in WA,USA --> Category:Captains who went down with the ship Category:American sea captains Category:Civilian submariners Category:Deaths in the Titan submersible implosion Category:Formerly missing American people Category:Engineers from California Category:Inventors killed by their own invention Category:Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Category:Princeton University alumni Category:Stockton family (New Jersey) Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:American people of English descent