Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (December 6, 1867 – April 9, 1915) was an Austrian-born American sculptor best known for his architectural sculpture, memorials and residential work.

He applied for citizenship, and set to work as an assistant with a firm of Ellin, Kitson & Co. ("The Founder of American Architectural Decoration," Stone volume XXIV, no.

While employed with this firm, at age 21, he competed for the Astor memorial bronze gates of Trinity Church and won.

[2] Bitter modeled seated statues of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to flank the entrance to the Cuyahoga County Courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio (1909–11).

[5] About this time, Bitter was discovered by Richard Morris Hunt, the architect of choice of many of New York's rich and famous.

Where this would have taken him will never be known, because he was killed in a traffic collision in 1915 when, while leaving the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the driver of a car jumped the curb on Broadway and struck him down.

[2] Like many of the sculptors and painters of the day, Bitter frequently employed the services of the muse and history's first "super model", Audrey Munson.