Bill Bruns to Retire as Post’s Editor-In-Chief in December

Bill Bruns, who has served as editor-in-chief of the Palisadian-Post since 1993, announced his retirement on Monday.

“After more than 20 years in the editor’s chair, I’m going to retire on Friday, December 13,” Bruns told his staff in a memo. “This is something I have been contemplating for several years and it’s time to free up my life so that [my wife] Pam and I can really enjoy our four grandkids in Westchester and Seattle, while also traveling to visit friends and relatives around the country and in Europe. I also have a lot of projects to pursue; I won’t be bored!”

Bruns, who earlier in his career was an editor with Life Magazine, Hollywood bureau chief for TV Guide, a freelance writer and book author, acknowledged the difficulty in making his decision.

“I know I’m going to miss the challenge of producing this admired community newspaper week after week and working with my staff to maintain the high journalistic standards that we all share. I also know I’m going to miss engaging with the community, finding stories, assigning stories and seeing them work out. But it’s time to follow through on my retirement plans.”

Referring to his Lifestyle editor Libby Motika, who was his first hire, Bruns continued: “I’m truly proud of what Libby and I have accomplished at the Post these past 20 years and I appreciate all the hard work and dedication by our current staff as we continually strive for excellence—and a fun paper to read.”

Bruns and his wife, who played a key leadership role in the landmark campaign for charter school status at Palisades public schools and is currently director of the Human Rights Watch Student Task Force at 13 Los Angeles-area high schools, have lived in the community since 1972. Their two children, Alan and Allison, both graduated from Palisades High; Alan is a middle-school teacher and high school baseball coach in Seattle, and Allison is a social worker at the St. John’s Child and Family Development Center.

“I told Bill that he should be incredibly proud of what he accomplished at the Post,”  said owner Alan Smolinisky, a native of Pacific Palisades, who purchased the newspaper last December. “To come up with new, interesting and well-written stories week after week in a small, quiet town is amazingly difficult, but he and his staff always pull it off. I also don’t know of another Palisadian who loves our town as much as Bill does. His dedication to the paper is the sort of dedication a father has to his children.”