Tom Litton, an icon in the self-storage industry and a longtime friend to many among our Industry, passed away in his sleep on October 2nd. Memorial services were held today in his hometown of Lodi, California at the Lodi Funeral Home.

Tom began his career in storage when the industry was still in its infancy and became one of the industry’s most well-known consultants and providers of third-party management. In addition to successfully managing more than 150 properties in 11 states, Tom was a renowned consultant and speaker who conducted hundreds of seminars worldwide on topics ranging from self-storage operations and management to contracts and legal issues, auctions, facility auditing, and preventing theft and embezzlement.

Known as an exceptional writer, Tom contributed hundreds of articles for trade publications in the self-storage industry including the Mini-Storage Messenger, Self-Storage Almanac, and Self-Storage Development Handbook. He also wrote two best-selling industry books, The Key To Success: How To Manage Self-Storage and Auditing Self-Storage: Preventing Employee Theft & Embezzlement.

"This is a tragic loss for our industry,” says MiniCo Publisher Poppy Behrens. "Tom was always so enthusiastic about life. Whenever we spoke, he was excited about some new project, a new business venture, something he was doing at his ranch—and above all, his son. Tom was a teacher, a mentor, and above all he was a dear friend.”

Tom graduated with honors from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a degree in Accounting and Business Management. He was also a graduate of the World Wide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa, and had professional training in auction law and real estate. Ever driven to learn more, Tom was currently attending law school.

 

Cards of condolence can be sent to:

Litton Property Management

P.O. Box 970

Woodbridge, CA, 95258.