After nearly 50 years at CBS News, 78-year-old TV mainstay Bob Schieffer will retire as the face and voice of the network’s Face the Nation this summer.
The longtime journalist made the announcement this week, fittingly during the annual Schieffer Symposium at his alma matter, Texas Christian University.
"Because [this was] where it all started for me … I wanted you all to be the first to know that this summer I’m going to retire," Schieffer told the crowd.
"I’m one of the luckiest people in the world, because as a little boy, as a young reporter, I always wanted to be a journalist, and I got to do that."
"It’s been a great adventure."
CBS News president David Rhodes told CNN in response to the news that it was "entirely Bob’s decision" to leave and called him a "reporter’s reporter."
In addition to leading Face the Nation for 25 years, Schieffer is the chief Washington correspondent for CBS News and has anchored the nightly broadcast.
According to Rhodes, Schieffer is going out on a high note, and "feels the broadcast is in a really good place right now" given its almost 20-year spike in ratings.
"We’ll have more to report soon about the plans for this important broadcast and for the Washington bureau as a whole," he wrote of Bob’s last show.
"An important 2016 campaign season is beginning. But this is Bob’s night and I hope we can all celebrate with him the remarkable achievement which is his career here at CBS."
Indeed. Job very well done, Bob.