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. Theo Titus 936 Gordon Ave

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
/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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

Early years and business

Political career

Later years

See also

Notes

External links