Obituary: Tom Titus, longtime Daily Pilot and TimesOC theater critic, set the bar high

Tom Titus — an entertainment editor who reviewed local theater for the Daily Pilot and TimesOC for 55 years before his 2021 retirement — died peacefully at his home in Orange on June 2, according to his family. He was 85.

In a tribute to the stalwart critic posted on social media Wednesday, officials with Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory said between 1965 and 2020, the entertainment editor reviewed every play put out by the production but one.

“Titus set a bar for reviewing that may be impossible to pass,” media relations director Brian Robin wrote. “The staff at SCR expresses our condolences to Titus’ family and all those who knew him.”

Born on May 26, 1938, in Corry, Penn., Tom Warren Titus embarked on what would be a 60-year journalism career fresh out of high school, becoming sports editor for the Corry Evening Journal, according to a self-written life summary provided by his family Friday.

He maintained that professional interest during his three-year service in the U.S. Army, while stationed at Camp Casey in South Korea, as a staff member of the 7th Infantry Division’s Bayonet newspaper.

Upon returning to the U.S., Titus was transferred to New Jersey, where he spent his remaining 14 months of service working for the post newspaper. Picking up complimentary tickets to Broadway shows at the Manhattan USO, he attended more than 100 shows.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1963, securing a job with the Daily Pilot as a city reporter. Two years in, Titus reviewed a production of “A Thousand Clowns” at the old Laguna Playhouse, and his fate was sealed.

In the next four decades, Titus reviewed countless productions and took to the stage himself, as a performer and the director of numerous plays at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, Westminster Community Theater and the Irvine Community Theater, where he served as artistic director for 31 years.

His impact on the local theater community earned him recognition from the Costa Mesa Historical Society in 2019. ArtsOC presented Titus in 2021 with the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award, which recognizes individuals who’ve made extraordinary contributions to arts and culture in Orange County.

John Canalis, the Daily Pilot’s executive editor from 2010 to 2019, recalled offering to celebrate Titus’ 50th anniversary with the paper by treating him to lunch anywhere he liked. Titus suggested the casual dining restaurant Carrows.

“That was Tom — his tastes ran humble,” Canalis recalled. “Despite his deep source of knowledge he was never the critic with his nose in the air. His criticism was by and for the lay reader, but boy did he know the material after five decades in the chair and, for some of that time, on stage as a performer.”

In a farewell missive penned to readers of the Daily Pilot and TimesOC on April 27, 2021, Titus reflected on his life as a “dyed-in-the-wool theater junkie.”

“All in all, it’s been a full, exciting and thoroughly enjoyable life both as an observer and a participant,” Titus wrote, acknowledging the impact of the pandemic on theater attendance.

“Local theater will be back, albeit without me. When it is, I encourage you to go see a show and enjoy live performances in this most pleasurable of all artistic experiences.”

Titus is survived by son Tim Titus and daughter Mindy Mills, their respective spouses, Brenda Titus and Aaron Mills, as well as granddaughters Riley and Kaylyn Mills, life partner Jurine Landoe and ex-wife Beth Titus.

A celebration of life will be held at The GEM Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove on Aug. 19 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, family members request a donation be made to The GEM Theatre (thegemoc.com) or to a local community theater of one’s choosing.