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Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 7/21/2008 3:12:37 PM
Title: Possley leaves Chicago Tribune
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
Maurice Possley's note to Chicago Tribune colleagues

Dear Colleagues on the Projects Team:

Today I requested to be part of the involuntary severance program and leave the newspaper. I was assured this request will be granted and I expect to be gone by the end of August.

This was a difficult decision largely because of you. In my nearly 25 years at the Tribune, it has been a privilege and a joy to work with you and beside you on some of the most powerful and moving work to appear in the the newspaper.

I will be eternally grateful for the opportunities here and ever gratified by the changes and reforms that were prompted by our work.

Particularly, I will never forget those moments standing outside a prison and watching inmates go free, knowing that our reporting played some role in exposing their wrongful convictions and securing their freedom.

For the past decade, I have had the privilege to work with the since-departed Ken Armstrong and my seemingly constant companion, Steve Mills, on some of the most important journalism in our country.

For that I thank Ann Marie and this newspaper for the time, resources and space to expose systemic wrongs in our justice system and the wrongful convictions of more than two dozen inmates. I owe a lot to Bob Blau, Hanke Gratteau, George Papajohn and Flynn McRoberts, who have overseen much of my work for many years.

I am thankful for this newspaper's commitment to truth and justice and am hopeful that it will continue. I also am thankful for the newspaper's support in the courts when our work has been challenged.

I shall miss the comraderie and support and counsel you all have so generously offered me over the years.

It just doesn't seem possible that less than two months ago, some of us gathered at Columbia University for the Pulitzer luncheon with Ann Marie to celebrate our prize for investigative reporting. I understand that there are no guarantees in life -- that God laughs when we say we have plans -- nevertheless, how stunning it is to see the dismantling of our newspaper in such a short time.

I always had envisioned retiring from the Tribune, but events of the past year, including Ann Marie's resignation, convinced me that now is the time for me seek my fortune elsewhere.

With great respect, admiration and affection for you all,

Maurice

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