Isidor Straus

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Isidor Straus, a.k.a. Isidore Strauss (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was co-owner of the Macy's department store and served as a Member of Congress.

[edit] History

Isidor Straus was born on February 6, 1845 in Otterberg, Rhenish Palatinate. In 1854, he and his family immigrated to the United States where they settled in Talbotton, Georgia. After the Civil War, the Straus family moved to New York City, where Isidor and his brother Nathan brought their family crockery and glassware business, selling their merchandise in the Macy's department store. By 1896, they had gained full ownership of R. H. Macy and Company.

Isidor Straus served as a U.S. Congressman from January 30, 1894, to March 3, 1895 as a Democrat. In 1871, he married Rosalie Ida Blun (1849 – 1912). The couple was inseparable, writing to each other every day when they were apart.

Travelling from Germany back to the US, Isidor and his wife were passengers of the Titanic when on April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg. Ida reportedly would not leave Isidor and refused to get in a lifeboat, telling him, "We have been together for many years. Where you go, I go." The officer filling up the boat told Isidor that he could get into the boat with his wife, but he refused to get in the boat before other men and instead sent his wife's maid, Ellen Bird, into the boat. Ida refused to board the half-full boat, and Isidor and Ida both died on April 15 when the ship sank. In the 1997 film Titanic, they are briefly depicted comforting each other as their stateroom floods with water, along with a deleted scene showing earlier Isidor attempting to persuade Ida to enter the lifeboat.

Isidor Straus's body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennett and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in the Bronx. (Ida's body was not recovered.) A memorial for Isidor and Ida Straus is located at the intersection of Broadway and West End Avenue at West 106th Street in Uptown Manhattan. New York City public school P.S. 198, at 1700 Third Avenue in Manhattan, is also named for the couple.

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Preceded by: Ashbel P. Fitch	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for New York's 15th District January 30, 1894 - March 3, 1895	Succeeded by: Philip B. Low

Persondata
NAME	Straus, Isidor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Strauss, Isidor;Straus, Isidore
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Retailing magnate
DATE OF BIRTH	March 24 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH	Otterberg, Germany
DATE OF DEATH	April 15 1912
PLACE OF DEATH	Atlantic Ocean