Isidor and Ida Straus | |
|---|---|
 Isidor and Ida Straus | |
| Born | (Isidor)(1845-02-06)6 February 1845; (Ida)(1849-02-06)6 February 1849 |
| Died | April 15, 1912(1912-04-15) (aged 67) North Atlantic Ocean |
| Cause of death | Sinking of theTitanic |
| Occupation | Co-owner ofMacy's department store |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 7, includingJesse |
| Relatives |
|
Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) andRosalie Ida Straus (néeBlün; February 6, 1849 – April 15, 1912) were anAmerican couple who died in thesinking of theTitanic in 1912. Isidor was aGerman-Jewish businessman, politician, U.S. congressman and co-owner ofMacy's department store with his brotherNathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of theUnited States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York.[1] He died with his wife,Ida, in thesinking of theTitanic.
Isidor Straus was born on February 6, 1845, into aJewish family inOtterberg in the formerPalatinate, then ruled by theKingdom of Bavaria. He was the first of five children ofLazarus Straus (1809–1898) and his second wife and first cousin, Sara Straus (1823–1876).[2] His siblings were Hermine (1846–1922),Nathan (1848–1931), Jakob Otto (1849–1851) andOscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926). In 1854 he and his family immigrated to the United States, following his father, Lazarus, who immigrated two years before. They settled first inColumbus, Georgia, and then lived inTalbotton, Georgia, where their house still exists today.
Straus was preparing to go to theUnited States Military Academy at West Point when the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War prevented him from doing so.[3] In 1861, he was elected an officer in a Confederate military unit but was not allowed to serve because of his youth; in 1863, he went to England to secure ships forblockade running.[4] Straus worked as an aide to a London-based Confederate agent while living in England, as well as a Confederate bond salesman in both London and Amsterdam.[5]
Rosalie Ida Blun was born in 1849 inWorms to Nathan Blün and his wife Wilhelmine "Mindel" (née Freudenberg). She was the fifth of seven children. She emigrated to the United States with her family in 1850.
After the Civil War, the Straus family moved to New York City, where Lazarus convincedRowland Hussey Macy, founder of Macy's, to allow L. Straus & Sons to open a crockery department in the basement of his store.
Isidor Straus worked at L. Straus & Sons, which became the glass and china department at Macy's. In 1888, he and Nathan Straus became partners of Macy's. In 1893 he and his brother bought a controlling interest in Wechsler & Straus, renamedAbraham & Straus. By 1896, Isidor and his brother Nathan had gained full ownership ofR. H. Macy & Co.[6]
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In 1871, Straus married Rosalie Ida Blun (1849–1912). They were parents to seven children (one of whom died in infancy):
Among his great-great-granddaughters are singer Mikaela Mullaney Straus, known by her stage nameKing Princess,[10][11] and Wendy Rush (née Weil), the widow ofStockton Rush who founded the deep sea tourism companyOceanGate and lost his life on adive in a submersible in 2023 to the wreck of theTitanic.[12][13]
Straus served as aU.S. Congressman from January 30, 1894, to March 3, 1895, representingNew York's 15th congressional district as aDemocrat. He won a special election inJanuary 1894[14] to complete the term ofAshbel P. Fitch, who had resigned to becomeNew York City Comptroller. During his one-year term, Straus was a champion oftariff reform, opposing the high rates of theMcKinley Tariff and collaborating withWest Virginia CongressmanWilliam Lyne Wilson on theWilson–Gorman Tariff Act.[15] Straus did not run for re-election in the general election ofNovember 1894.
Straus was president ofThe Educational Alliance and a prominent worker in charitable and educational movements, very much interested incivil service reform and the general extension of education. He declined the office ofPostmaster General which was offered him by U.S. PresidentGrover Cleveland.[16]
When the newly formedMutual Alliance Trust Company opened for business in New York on the Tuesday after June 29, 1902, there were 13 directors, includingEmanuel Lehman,William Rockefeller,Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Straus.[17]
Isidor and his wife spent the winter of 1911/1912 in Europe. They originally planned to return home on a different ship, but switched to theTitanic due to acoal strike in England that caused the coal from other ships to be diverted to theTitanic.
Traveling back from a winter in Europe, mostly spent atCape Martin in southern France, they exchanged marconigrams with their son and his wife, who were passengers onAmerika as the ships passed near on its way to Europe. At about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, ithit an iceberg. Once it was clear the Titanic was sinking, Ida refused to leave Isidor and would not get into alifeboat without him.[18] According to friend andTitanic survivor ColonelArchibald Gracie IV, when he offered to ask an officer if Isidor could enter a lifeboat with Ida, Isidor refused to be made an exception whilewomen and children were still on board, while Ida is reported to have said, "I will not be separated from my husband. As we have lived, so we will die, together."[19] Ida gave her maidEllen Bird her fur coat and insisted she get into a lifeboat. Isidor and Ida were seen on deck arm in arm; eyewitnesses described the scene as a "most remarkable exhibition of love and devotion".[20] The ship sank at 2:20 am. on April 15. Isidor and Ida perished along with ~1,500 others.
Isidor's body was recovered byCSMackay-Bennett and taken toHalifax, Nova Scotia, and from there shipped to New York. He was first buried in the Straus-Kohns Mausoleum at Beth-El Cemetery in Brooklyn, and he was then moved to the Straus Mausoleum inWoodlawn Cemetery in theBronx in 1928. Ida's body was never recovered, so the family collected water from the wreck site and placed it in an urn in themausoleum. Isidor and Ida are memorialized on acenotaph outside the mausoleum with a quote from theSong of Solomon (8:7): "Many waters cannot quench love—neither can the floods drown it."[21]
An 18-karat gold trimmedpocket watch given to Straus for his 43rd birthday in 1888 and recovered from his body was sold for a record-breaking £1.78 million ($2.32 million) at an auction in England on November 23, 2025.[22] The story of Ida's bravery and loyalty became much celebrated. Rabbis spoke to their congregations about her sacrifice; articles inYiddish- andGerman-language newspapers extolled her courage; a popular song featuring the story, "TheTitanic's Disaster", became popular among Jewish Americans.
Acenotaph at the Straus Mausoleum atWoodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is dedicated to Isidor and Ida together. The work was designed byJames Gamble Rogers, with sculpture byLee Lawrie.[23]
In addition to the cenotaph at Woodlawn Cemetery, there are three other memorials to Isidor and Ida Straus in their adopted home of New York City.Straus Hall, one of Harvard's freshman residence halls inHarvard Yard, was given in honor of the Strauses by their three sons.[24]
The couple are portrayed in the 1953 filmTitanic, the 1958 filmA Night to Remember, and in the musicalTitanic, in scenes that are faithful to the accounts described by eyewitnesses. In the 1979 filmS.O.S. Titanic, Ida and Isidor are shown; the film deviates from the accounts, by depicting Ida tell Isidor that she plans to "stay a little while." In the 1997 filmTitanic, the Strauses are briefly depicted awaiting their end on their bed as their stateroom floods with water (despite there being no evidence they returned to their cabin, and the fact that Isidor's body was recovered), during a sequence of emotional events while the ship's string quartet plays the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee". A deleted scene, in harmony with the accounts of rescued survivors, shows Isidor attempting to persuade Ida to enter a lifeboat, which she refuses to do.
| Character | Titanic (1953) | You Are There: The Sinking of the Titanic (TV episode, 22 May 1955) | Kraft Television Theatre;A Night to Remember (1956) | A Night to Remember (1958 British film) | S.O.S. Titanic (1979 TV Movie) | Titanic: The Complete Story (1994 Documentary) | Titanic (1996 TV miniseries) | Titanic (1997 film) | Titanic (Broadway musical) (1997 musical) | Titanic: Secrets Revealed (1998 TV documentary) | Unsinkable (2024 film) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isidor | Roy Gordon | Charles Meredith | Edgar Stehli | Meier Tzelniker | Gordon Whiting | no actor | no actor | Lew Palter | Larry Keith | Dan Birnbaum | Howard Elson | |
| Ida | Helen Van Tuyl | Olive Blakeney | Unknown actress | Helen Misener | Nancy Nevinson | Pamela Munro | Janie Woods-Morris | Elsa Raven | Alma Cuervo | Inge Campbell | Annie Kitral |
: Johanette GREENEBAUM married Isaak STRAUS in about 1808. They were the parents of 14 children. Their oldest, Lazarus STRAUS, married his first cousin, Sara STRAUS. Lazarus and Sara were the parents of Isidor, Hermine, Nathan and Oscar
Further reading
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 15th congressional district 1894–1895 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
