Theodore Titus III (March 12, 1920 – August 16, 2008) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician.
Early years and business
Titus was born March 12, 1920, to Theo Titus, Jr. and Margaret Crovatt Titus, in
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The population was 18,413 at the 2010 United States Census, making it the second largest city in southwest Georgia after Albany, Georgia, Albany.
The city deems itself the "C ...
.
He was the grandson of Theodore Titus, Sr., a distinguished south Georgia
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
, and great-grandson of
Col. Henry Theodore Titus, founder and namesake of
Titusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in eastern Florida and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city's population was 43,761 as of the 2010 United States Census.
Titusville is located along the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and ...
.
He served in the
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, then returned to Thomasville where he owned and operated the Titus Cadillac Company for twenty years. He then worked for the
Federal Disaster Assistance Administration (later reorganized as
FEMA
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...
) for another twenty years.
Political career
In 1988 Titus was elected to the
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...
. He ran as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
in an area of the state that had, for many years, been represented by
Democrats. He served five terms from 1989 to 1999, during a period when his district was reconfigured and renumbered as part of the periodic
reapportionment
Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionme ...
process. Titus served on
Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Game Fish & Parks, and the powerful Appropriations committee.
Later years
After "retiring", Titus took up an active pastime as a columnist for the ''
Thomasville Times-Enterprise
The ''Thomasville Times-Enterprise'' is a five-day newspaper published in Thomasville, Georgia. It is operated by South Georgia Media Group, a division of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. CNHI acquired the paper in 2000 from Thomson.
A popular ...
''. Over the course of twenty years, from 1986 to 2006, he wrote an estimated 1000 columns on a number of subjects, but mostly about nature. Declining health forced him to suspend his writing, two years prior to his death. His daughter, Tamara Titus, edited a collection of his columns and published them as a book: ''An Outdoor Heritage-stories from a South Georgia Life.''
On August 16, 2008, Titus died in Thomasville, Georgia after a long illness.
[Theo Titus III-obituary](_blank)
/ref> In 2018, a daughter, Twitty Titus, announced her intention to run for her father's former House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
seat. Twitty, a Democrat, sought to unseat the four-term incumbent, a Republican, but lost in the general election. A son, Theo Titus, IV earned a degree in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
from Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...
, and worked for a time as a broadcast engineer
Broadcast engineering is the field of electrical engineering, and now to some extent computer engineering and information technology, which deals with radio and television broadcasting. Audio engineering and RF engineering are also essential pa ...
at WXIA
WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north e ...
in Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
followed by "careers in multiple electronics industries and companies". He retired to Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...
, where he is a ham radio
Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
operator with the call sign K4MVL A niece Dina Titus serves in the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
from Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
.
See also
*Fort Titus
Fort Titus was the fortress residence of pro-slavery advocate Henry T. Titus, built in Kansas in April 1856, during a period when forces aligned with Titus came into conflict with free-state settlers. The wider conflict, which emerged from a po ...
*Battle of Fort Titus
The Battle of Fort Titus was a battle that occurred during conflicts in the Kansas Territory between abolitionist and pro-slavery militias prior to the American Civil War. The era is known as Bleeding Kansas.
Background
Fort Titus was built a ...
Notes
External links
*
History of North Brevard County – Col. Henry T. Titus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Titus, Theo
1920 births
2008 deaths
People from Thomasville, Georgia
United States Army Air Forces soldiers
Military personnel from Georgia (U.S. state)
Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state)
Journalists from Georgia (U.S. state)
Writers from Georgia (U.S. state)
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials
Republican Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
20th-century American politicians
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists