Palo Alto Weekly editor Jay Thorwaldson will retire at the end of January after ten years in that position. He plans to contribute a weekly column for the publication after his departure:

Thorwaldson said he finds it difficult to put into words his mixed feelings about stepping out of the center of community action and news, as well as losing daily contact with his colleagues at the Weekly.

“I will miss the many rewards of working for the Weekly and with the outstanding staff, whom I will miss terribly — but I hope not to be too far away,” he said. As for the Palo Alto/Stanford area, “Nowhere in the world could you find a more interesting community and people than in Palo Alto. It’s been a true privilege to be a central part of local history and to have developed so many friends along the way.”

The paper announced on Friday that managing editor Jocelyn Dong will take over for Thorwaldson. Dong is an eleven-year veteran at the publication and was called “the obvious and easy choice for this position,” by publisher Bill Johnson.