A service to celebrate the life of Sanford Burton Fitts, IV, 42, of Austin will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12th, at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home in Austin.
Burt died on Saturday, December 1, in Austin.
He was born April 20, 1976 in Miami, FL to Sanford Burton Fitts, III and Pamela Lurting Fitts. During his years growing up in Miami, Burt loved surfing, skate boarding, and sports. He moved to Texas when he was 14. In part, because his Dad was a Duke graduate and basketball player, Burt was always a Coach K and Duke basketball fan. He became more passionate about the sport as he grew older and played basketball at Temple High School. His nickname was “Bruiser Burt”; his opponent did not want to meet him under the basket! The 1993 Temple basketball team made it to the state quarterfinals.
After high school, Burt attended Southwest Texas State University, graduating in 1999 with a B.A. in Finance. His years at SWTSU were busy, between his studies and activities with his Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity brothers. He was very active in the fraternity and served as the Social Chairman. He and his SAE brothers remained a very close knit group throughout Burt’s adult life.
After college Burt entered the world of business and finance. He and his business partner founded Elite Financing Group (EFG) in 2005. EFG became a very successful mortgage company and the Austin Business Journal rated them among the top 20 mortgage companies in Austin for five years running.
In 2006, Burt married Marlena Rose Clarence and they had their son, Sanford Burton Fitts, V. Burton was the highlight of Burt’s life! As Burton grew older, Burt’s involvement in his life expanded as he took an active role in his sporting activities. He assisted in coaching various sports, including flag football and various levels of basketball teams. He was very proud of Burton for making a Premier AAU basketball team just a few weeks ago. Although proud of his sporting participation, Burt always stressed academic endeavors came before sports.
Burt was preceded in death by his father in 2004.
Survivors include his son, Sanford Burton Fitts, V of Austin; his mother and step-father, Pamela and Charles Pierce of Temple; a sister, Jennifer Fitts of Lamont, FL; a step-sister, Lynn Pierce of Dallas; a step-mother and sister, Ceil and Claudia Fitts of Miami, FL.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial to your favorite charity in Burt’s name.
Visitation will be from 6 – 8 p.m. Tuesday at Cook-Walden/Forest Oaks Funeral Home in Austin.
