Isidor Straus

Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a German-born American politician and businessman, who was a co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He served just over a year as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the state of New York.[1]

Straus was born in Germany but immigrated to the United States with his family when he was nine, settling in Georgia. During the American Civil War, Straus was on the side of the Confederate States of America and though he was not allowed to serve in the Confederate Army, he worked on their behalf in England. After the Civil War ended, the family moved to New York City where he and his brother began their business career.

Straus died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, along with his wife Ida who refused to leave the ship without her husband.

Early lives

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.

Legacy

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.[23]

Memorials

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.[24]

A memorial plaque can be seen on the main floor of Macy's Department Store in Manhattan.
The Isidor and Ida Memorial is located in Straus Park, at the intersection of Broadway and West End Avenue at 106th Street (Duke Ellington Boulevard) in Manhattan.[25] The park is one block from where they resided at 105th Street and West End Avenue (now the site of the Cleburne Building). An inscription reads, "Lovely and pleasant they were in their lives, and in death they were not divided." (2 Samuel 1:23)
New York City Public School P.S. 198, built in Manhattan in 1959, is named in memory of Isidor and Ida Straus. The building, at Third Avenue between East 95th and 96th Streets, shares space with another school, P.S. 77.[26]
The 34th Street main entrance to Macy's Department Store in Manhattan features two brass plaques — one commemorating the deaths of Ida and Isidor Straus, the other honoring employees who died in World War I.
The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial is located in Straus Park at the intersection of Broadway and West End Avenue at W. 106th Street (Duke Ellington Boulevard) in Manhattan.

Portrayals

Straus and his wife 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 telling 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.

Roy Gordon (1953) Titanic
Charles Meredith (1955) (You Are There: The Sinking of the Titanic (TV episode, 22 May 1955)
Edgar Stehli (1956) Kraft Television Theatre; A Night to Remember
Dan Birnbaum (1998) - Titanic: Secrets Revealed (TV documentary)
Howard Elson (2024) - Unsinkable

state	New York
district	NY's 15th congressional district
term start	January 30, 1894
term end	March 3, 1895
predecessor	Ashbel P. Fitch
successor	Philip B. Low
birth date	February 6, 1845
birth place	Otterberg, Kingdom of Bavaria
death date	April 15, 1912
death place	North Atlantic Ocean
party	Democratic
occupation	Businessman · Philanthropist · Politician
known for	Co-owner of R. H. Macy & Company and Abraham & Straus
spouse	Rosalie Ida Blun (m. 1871)
children	7, including Jesse
father	Lazarus Straus
mother	Sara Levi
relatives	Nathan Straus (brother) Oscar Straus (brother) Robert K. Straus (grandson) King Princess (great-great-granddaughter) Wendy Rush (great-great-granddaughter)

Early lives

Career

Marriage and children

Congress

Other political activities

Aboard the Titanic

Legacy

Memorials

Portrayals

See also

External links

References