Robert Berne Titus

July 15, 1941 – July 25, 2025

Robert (Bob) Titus passed away from cancer at home in Bloomfield, CT on July 25, 2025. He led a full and productive life, bringing insight and comfort to many. Born to Winston Prescott and Martha Louise (Colburn) Titus, and as younger brother to Anne.

He entered Yale, having just turned 17, from Laconia High School, Laconia, NH, where he was both the class valedictorian and the captain of the football team. Both academics and football remained as a part of his life at Yale as a Political Science Honors major, Ranking Scholar twice and played football for Calhoun. In addition, he served on Calhoun’s Debate Club, College Council and as captain of their baseball team. More broadly, he became a member of Phi Sigma Phi, vice president of Alpha Phi Omega, and was elected treasurer of the Young Democrats. Bill Weber comments, “The thing I remember the most was his enthusiasm and energy on the John Kennedy Presidential campaign.”

Jay Hatch cites Bob’s enthusiasm for most things, and especially for working for his father’s construction company, which he did for three years after graduation. That enthusiasm led Jay to joining the Titus family and working with Bob in the summers of ’62 and ’63. That had the sidebar of introducing Bob to Margo Hallowell, a childhood friend of Jay’s, via a double date. Margo became Bob’s wife in 1965 and together they raised Jeremey and Abigail, who later provided them with three much beloved grandchildren.

In 1965 Bob enrolled at Yale Law School to pursue his long-held interest in the field. Upon graduation he joined the firm of Day, Berry & Howard in Hartford, CT, and worked for them for 18 years, retiring to follow a developed interest in sharing his knowledge and experiences with the younger generation. That he did for 10 years as a faculty member of Western New England’s School of Law while serving both as deputy banking commissioner for Connecticut and as a mediator for corporate matters.

The next step in Bob and Margo’s life was to follow a dream to operate a B&B, which they did for 15 years when they purchased one in Norwich, Vermont. Bob kept his fingers in law as an occasional adjunct professor at Norwich University. When they sold the inn, they moved briefly to Lyme, NH before returning to Connecticut and settling in the Seabury Retirement Community in Bloomfield. Bob’s passion for lifelong learning kept him engaged with sports and especially as a follower of Yale Hockey, civics as elected President of Seabury’s Residents’ Association, and academics as aide to his children and then grandchildren with their schoolwork.

In addition to service through law-related activities, Bob had a lifelong commitment to serving his community such as through his church and Rotary. They went a several Habitat for Humanity work trips, participated in post-Katrina work in Louisiana and Mississippi, and with the Yale Alumni Service Corps in Mexico. As he wrote from Vermont to the Y’62 40th reunion book, Time and Change: “The trick will be to find continuing ways to make a positive contribution to the larger community. (I find myself increasingly attracted to and persuaded by the ideas of communitarianism….)”

“Bob Titus was a happy camper, despite fighting kidney disease.  He was always reading or studying.  He had an intense interest in politics and International Law, as it would apply to outer space.  He was proud of his New Hampshire roots.” — Tony Giamei. His dry humor and the twinkle in his eye will be missed by many.

And from roommate Bruce Trimble: “Bob was a great roommate: organized, steady, a good sense of humor. The one time I remember deviation from his usual good sense was when he decided to demonstrate for us a nonstandard way of un-cocking his ROTC rifle. This involved rapidly jabbing a thumb in and out of the open cartridge slot. Fortunately, his thumb survived.”

A memorial service will be held, at a date yet to be announced, at the Seabury Retirement Community Chapel in Bloomfield, CT.

— John D. Hatch III