- Stockton Rush's wife Wendy was OceanGate's "number two", a former Polar Prince passenger said.
- Arnie Weissmann said she was part of the team that tracked the Titan sub's location on dives.
- Wendy would "chirp in" if she felt the OceanGate CEO "wasn't correct," he said.
Wendy Rush, the wife of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, was effectively the company's second-in-command, according to a former passenger of the Titan sub's support ship the Polar Prince.
Her title was director of communications for OceanGate, but Arnie Weissmann told Insider that she also played a key part in the expeditions.
The editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly spent eight days on the Polar Prince in May, and said there were multiple meetings a day on the support ship to discuss operations.
His dive to the Titanic wreck was eventually canceled due to bad weather, but Weissmann was able to spend time with Stockton and Wendy Rush on the Polar Prince, which he said had a crew of around 14. The team included OceanGate operations manager Kyle Bingham, as well as a photographer and videographer.
Those on the Polar Prince would have breakfast between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. each day and then go to an all-hands meeting. Missions specialists were instructed to join and Stockton Rush would go through a "long list of to-do items".
"She took part in the meetings and you got the sense that she was number two," Weissmann said.
The journalist added that Stockton Rush was the "driver of the operation" at OceanGate, with Wendy Rush "in a support role. He ran the meetings but Wendy would be the one who would most likely chirp in if there was something more to add, or if she felt his statement wasn't correct."
Weissmann said he saw a video from a previous expedition where Wendy Rush was "part of the team that was in communication with the sub" on a dive, helping to track its location.
Aaron Newman, who visited the Titanic wreck on the Titan in August 2021, told Fox Business that Wendy Rush was always "looking over his [Stockton's] shoulder" to ensure operations were safe, although Weissmann says he "didn't get that feeling."
Wendy Rush is a descendant of two famous Titanic victims, The New York Times reported last month. The couple both attended Princeton University, graduated in 1984 and married two years later.
Before it was taken offline, her Linkedin profile said Wendy Rush was OceanGate's communications director and an expedition-team member.
An OceanGate representative told Insider it was "unable to comment."