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Stockton Rush
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. 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.
Richard Stockton Rush III was born into a wealthy family in San Francisco, California, on March 31, 1962, the youngest of five children born to Richard Stockton Rush Jr. and Ellen (née Davies). His mother was a native of San Francisco, while his father was born in Philadelphia. His maternal grandfather was businessman Ralph K. Davies. His maternal grandmother, Louise Davies, was a philanthropist and the namesake of San Francisco's Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Through his father, he was a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton and physician Benjamin Rush.
His childhood home in San Francisco was unintentionally damaged during a synchronised bombing of Yugoslav embassies in 1967. 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.
As a child, Rush wanted to become an astronaut and the first person on Mars, and had an interest in aviation and aquatics. He began scuba diving at age 12, and became a commercial pilot at 18 years old. He was later told his visual acuity would disqualify him from becoming a military aviator. In 1980, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.
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.
After graduating from Princeton, Rush worked briefly for McDonnell Douglas as a flight-test engineer for the F-15 program before getting his MBA. Later on, Rush worked as a venture capitalist for the San Francisco company Peregrine Partners. He relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1989 to manage the company Remote Control Technology based in Kirkland, Washington. He claimed to have built an experimental airplane later that year that he flew throughout his life.
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Stockton Rush
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. 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.
Richard Stockton Rush III was born into a wealthy family in San Francisco, California, on March 31, 1962, the youngest of five children born to Richard Stockton Rush Jr. and Ellen (née Davies). His mother was a native of San Francisco, while his father was born in Philadelphia. His maternal grandfather was businessman Ralph K. Davies. His maternal grandmother, Louise Davies, was a philanthropist and the namesake of San Francisco's Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. Through his father, he was a descendant of two signers of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Stockton and physician Benjamin Rush.
His childhood home in San Francisco was unintentionally damaged during a synchronised bombing of Yugoslav embassies in 1967. 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.
As a child, Rush wanted to become an astronaut and the first person on Mars, and had an interest in aviation and aquatics. He began scuba diving at age 12, and became a commercial pilot at 18 years old. He was later told his visual acuity would disqualify him from becoming a military aviator. In 1980, he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire.
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.
After graduating from Princeton, Rush worked briefly for McDonnell Douglas as a flight-test engineer for the F-15 program before getting his MBA. Later on, Rush worked as a venture capitalist for the San Francisco company Peregrine Partners. He relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1989 to manage the company Remote Control Technology based in Kirkland, Washington. He claimed to have built an experimental airplane later that year that he flew throughout his life.