Plain Dealer's Clifton to retire in June

Douglas C. Clifton, editor of The Plain Dealer for nearly eight years and the man credited with elevating its news coverage, ended months of speculation this morning by announcing his retirement. He will leave the paper June 1.

“I’ve decided to let the cat out of the bag now,” he told about 130 staff members who gathered in the newsroom for the 10 a.m. announcement, “I can’t tolerate this telling of little white lies.”

Clifton went on to say that his decision had nothing to do with recent buyouts, which left the paper with 64 fewer newsroom employees; the state of the business; or the hiring of Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger, who came to the Plain Dealer in May.

“This publisher is as good as it gets,” he said. “We lucked out.”

The business, he also said, is at an exhilarating turning point.

But as he approaches his 64th birthday, he’s ready to start a new chapter of his life, spending more time with his children and grandchildren, learning Spanish and renovating a Vermont home that he and his wife, Peg Clifton, own.

Clifton, 63, has served as the Plain Dealer’s top editor since June 1, 1999. In 2003, he was named Editor of the Year by Editor & Publisher magazine. Two years later, Connie Schultz won the paper’s first Pulitzer Prize in more than 50 years.

See PD story by Diane Suchetka


See update of an earlier article in Cleveland Magazine titled The New Dealer