Dan Caesar, who has covered the St. Louis sports media for the Post-Dispatch has officially retired and his “last” column as an employee is out. But the good news is he will continue doing the column on a free-lance basis.
“Last week I wrote part of my column before I officially retired –Wednesday April 30 was my last official day–and part of it after that.”
Times have changed in the newspaper business which led him to his decision to get out of the day-to-day business.
“I have been considering retiring for several years (I’m 67 now), and was close last fall after receiving a buyout offer from the Post-Dispatch, but I decided to continue with the intent of retiring this spring if a favorable deal could be worked out.”
As it turned out the newspaper worked out a deal for him
“They treated me very well through the whole process,” he told STL Sports Page. “There was no pressure, and management was agreeable to almost everything I was seeking as part of side arrangements that include continuing to write my media column.”
What Caesar is giving up by retiring is the day-to-day copy-editing work.”
“Quite frankly that has been de-emphasized industrywide in recent year as part of the circulation decline of daily newspapers nationwide,” he said. “A lot of the things I did on that aspect of my job were losing relevance, so it was a good time to move on.
“It’s simply the evolution of the business. What job anywhere hasn’t changed significantly in recent years? It’s been a long and (usually!) fun run of 37 years at the P-D and 43 working in the St. Louis market after starting in the Globe-Democrat’s sports department in 1982.”
Last Friday was the 37th anniversary of the“Media Views” columnist starting at the Post-Dispatch, so he leaves with almost 40 years of working at the newspaper.
“I’m grateful for the opportunities over all those years,” he said, “Being able to transition on my own terms and now continue to contribute for a while longer.”
