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. 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.
