PD publisher to retire after first of year

Plain Dealer publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger will retire from the newspaper shortly after the first of next year, Egger announced today.

“I will be 55 this week, and while it has not been an easy decision to leave a career and industry that I love, I am excited about starting a productive next phase in my life, Egger said in a note to Plain Dealer staffers.

Egger joined The Plain Dealer in May 2006 as publisher, president and chief executive officer, overseeing the policy and operations of Ohio’s largest newspaper in Ohio.

He also oversees operations for the Sun Newspapers, a chain of weeklies published in communities across Northeast Ohio.

The Plain Dealer and Sun are owned by New York-based Advance Publications.

Egger said in the note that he has not decided what he will do next although “I do hope a part of it is returning to teach in a college classroom.”
He also said he would lead the search for his successor at The Plain Dealer.

Prior to joining The Plain Dealer, Egger was publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He also worked with Tucson Newspapers in Arizona, for the Copley Los Angeles Newspapers, and he began his newspaper career at a small biweekly in Southern California. Prior to newspapers, Egger taught college communication courses in California.

Egger serves on the Executive Committee for the Greater Cleveland Partnership. He also is a board member with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the Musical Arts Association and the Cleveland Museum of Art. He is a member of the United Way of Greater Cleveland board of directors and he served as United Way’s board chairman from 2010 to 2012.

A native of Rock Island, Ill., Egger and his wife, Renuka, live in Bay Village. They have three children: Anthony, Ali and Danny.