Theo Titus

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| honorific-suffix =

| image =

| alt =

| office1 =Member of the
Georgia House of Representatives
143rd district

| term_start1 =1989

| term_end1 =1993

| predecessor1 = Allen Sherrod

| office2 =Member of the
Georgia House of Representatives
180th district

| term_start2 =1993

| term_end2 = 1999

| successor2 = John Bulloch

| prior_term = 1993

|birth_name=Theodore Titus III

| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|03|12}}

| birth_place = Thomasville, Georgia, US

| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|08|16|1920|03|12}}

| death_place = Thomasville, Georgia, US

| profession = Journalist

| spouse = Camille

| alma_mater =

| party=Republican

| otherparty=

}}

Theodore Titus III (March 12, 1920 – August 16, 2008) was an American journalist, businessman, and politician. He served as a Republican member of the Georgia House of Representatives. He was the uncle of Dina Titus, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada.

Early years and business

Titus was born March 12, 1920, to Theo Titus, Jr. and Margaret Crovatt Titus, in Thomasville, Georgia. He was the grandson of Theodore Titus, Sr., a distinguished south Georgia jurist, and great-grandson of Col. Henry Theodore Titus, founder and namesake of Titusville, Florida.{{cite book|author=Antonio Rafael de la Cova|title=Colonel Henry Theodore Titus: Antebellum Soldier of Fortune and Florida Pioneer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4yFkDAAAQBAJ|date=July 31, 2016|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|isbn=978-1-61117-657-5}} He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, 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) for another twenty years.

Political career

In 1988 Titus was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He ran as a Republican 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 process. Titus served on Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Game Fish & Parks, and the powerful Appropriations committee.{{cite web|title=Members of the General Assembly of Georgia|publisher=State of Georgia|url=http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/cgi-bin/govdimag.cgi?path=dbs/1998/ga/s700/_ps1/g4/1997_h98/sess_p2.con/&user=galileo&sessionid=637f8586-1607361238-3088&serverid=DU&instcode=afpl&return=ggpd%3fuserid%3dgalileo%26dbs%3dggpd%26action%3dretrieve%26recno%3d20%26numrecs%3d50%26__rtype%3drecno%26key%3dy-ga-bs700-b-ps1-bg4-b1997-h98-bsess-p2|date=January 1997|accessdate=April 28, 2018}}

File:Theo Titus 936 Gordon Ave.jpg]]

Later years and family

After "retiring", Titus took up an active pastime as a columnist for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise. 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.{{cite book|author=Theodore Titus|title=An Outdoor Heritage: Stories from a South Georgia Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Q8gAAAACAAJ|date=January 1, 2005|publisher=Pure Heart Press|isbn=978-1-930907-87-4}}

On August 16, 2008, Titus died in Thomasville, Georgia after a long illness.[http://www.allenfh.com/obituaries/Theo-TitusIII-571087/#!/Obituary Theo Titus III-obituary][http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/Archives/19971998/house/gash180.htm Georgia House of Representatives-Theo Titus III] His niece, Dina Titus, serves as a Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from Nevada.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dinatitus.com/about-dina-titus |title=Dina Titus For U.S. Congress |access-date=April 25, 2018 |archive-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180110042853/http://www.dinatitus.com/about-dina-titus |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |author=Kris Kitto |date=March 31, 2009 |title=Meet the Lawmaker: Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) |url=https://thehill.com/capital-living/meet-the-lawmaker/18409-meet-the-lawmaker-rep-dina-titus-d-nev/ |access-date=April 28, 2018 |publisher=The Hill, Capital Hill Publishing Corp.}}

In 2018, a daughter, Twitty Titus, announced her intention to run for her father's former House seat. Twitty, a Democrat, sought to unseat the four-term incumbent, a Republican, but lost in the general election.{{cite web|title=Taylor to run again for House seat|publisher=Thomasville Times-Enterprise|url=http://www.timesenterprise.com/news/state_news/taylor-to-run-again-for-house-seat/article_d902c8f4-d004-5ac3-b25d-e2f3d71e8f01.html|date=March 9, 2018|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}{{cite web|title=Georgia House of Representatives District 173|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia_House_of_Representatives_District_173|accessdate=November 13, 2018}} A son, Theo Titus, IV earned a degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech, and worked for a time as a broadcast engineer at WXIA in Atlanta followed by "careers in multiple electronics industries and companies". He retired to Tallahassee, Florida, where he is a ham radio operator with the call sign K4MVL{{cite web|title=K4MVL|publisher=QRZ.com|url=https://www.qrz.com/db/K4MVL|date=July 16, 2015|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}{{cite web|title=Amateur License – K4MVL – TITUS IV, THEODORE|publisher=Federal Communications Commission|url=http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=247505|date=January 17, 2018|accessdate=April 29, 2018}}