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Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 â April 15, 1912) and Rosalie Ida Straus (née Blün; February 6, 1849 â April 15, 1912) were an American couple who died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Isidor was a German-Jewish businessman, politician and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York.
Isidor Straus was born on February 6, 1845, into a Jewish family in Otterberg in the former Palatinate, then ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria. He was the first of five children of Lazarus Straus (1809âÂÂ1898) and his second wife and first cousin, Sara Straus (1823âÂÂ1876). His siblings were Hermine (1846âÂÂ1922), Nathan (1848âÂÂ1931), Jakob Otto (1849âÂÂ1851) and Oscar Solomon Straus (1850âÂÂ1926). In 1854 he and his family immigrated to the United States, following his father, Lazarus, who immigrated two years before. They settled first in Columbus, Georgia, and then lived in Talbotton, Georgia, where their house still exists today.
Straus was preparing to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point when the outbreak of the American Civil War prevented him from doing so. 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 for blockade running. 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.
Rosalie Ida Blun was born in 1849 in Worms 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 convinced Rowland 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, renamed Abraham & Straus. By 1896, Isidor and his brother Nathan had gained full ownership of R. H. Macy & Co.
In 1871, Straus married Rosalie Ida Blun (1849âÂÂ1912). 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 name King Princess, and Wendy Rush (née Weil), the widow of Stockton Rush who founded the deep sea tourism company OceanGate and lost his life on a dive in a submersible in 2023 to the wreck of the Titanic.
Straus served as a U.S. Congressman from January 30, 1894, to March 3, 1895, representing New York's 15th congressional district as a Democrat. He won a special election in January 1894 to complete the term of Ashbel P. Fitch, who had resigned to become New York City Comptroller. During his one-year term, Straus was a champion of tariff reform, opposing the high rates of the McKinley Tariff and collaborating with West Virginia Congressman William Lyne Wilson on the WilsonâÂÂGorman Tariff Act. Straus did not run for re-election in the general election of November 1894.
Straus was president of The Educational Alliance and a prominent worker in charitable and educational movements, very much interested in civil service reform and the general extension of education. He declined the office of Postmaster General which was offered him by U.S. President Grover Cleveland.
When the newly formed Mutual Alliance Trust Company opened for business in New York on the Tuesday after June 29, 1902, there were 13 directors, including Emanuel Lehman, William Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Straus.
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 the Titanic due to a coal strike in England that caused the coal from other ships to be diverted to the Titanic.
Traveling back from a winter in Europe, mostly spent at Cape Martin in southern France, they exchanged marconigrams with their son and his wife, who were passengers on Amerika as the ships passed near on its way to Europe. At about 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg. Once it was clear the Titanic was sinking, Ida refused to leave Isidor and would not get into a lifeboat without him. According to friend and Titanic survivor Colonel Archibald GracieÃÂ IV, when he offered to ask an officer if Isidor could enter a lifeboat with Ida, Isidor refused to be made an exception while women 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." Ida gave her maid Ellen 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". The ship sank at 2:20 am. on April 15. Isidor and Ida perished along with ~1,500 others.
Isidor's body was recovered by CS Mackay-Bennett and taken to Halifax, 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 in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in 1928. Ida's body was never recovered, so the family collected water from the wreck site and placed it in an urn in the mausoleum. Isidor and Ida are memorialized on a cenotaph outside the mausoleum with a quote from the Song of Solomon (8:7): "Many waters cannot quench loveâÂÂneither can the floods drown it."
An 18-karat gold trimmed Jules Jürgensen pocket watch given to Straus for his 43rd birthday in 1888 and recovered from his body was sold for a record-breaking ã1.78 million ($2.32 million) at an auction in England on November 23, 2025. The story of Ida's bravery and loyalty became much celebrated. Rabbis spoke to their congregations about her sacrifice; articles in Yiddish- and German-language newspapers extolled her courage; a popular song featuring the story, "The Titanic's Disaster", became popular among Jewish Americans.
A cenotaph at the Straus Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is dedicated to Isidor and Ida together. The work was designed by James Gamble Rogers, with sculpture by Lee Lawrie.
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, was given in honor of the Strauses by their three sons.
The couple are portrayed in the 1953 film Titanic, the 1958 film A Night to Remember, and in the musical Titanic, in scenes that are faithful to the accounts described by eyewitnesses. In the 1979 film S.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 film Titanic, 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.
Further reading