Bob Novak announces retirement, effective immediately

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times’ political columnist describes as “dire.”

“The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy,” Novak said.

Here’s video of a short AP report on the news:

And speaking of the AP, check out the word they left out in their initial wire reports on Novak’s retirement.

The WaPo notes Novak’s history with cancer:

Novak has been diagnosed with cancer at least three times. He underwent surgery in 2003 to remove a cancerous growth on his kidney and was under medical observation for a possible recurrence.

Here’s an index of Novak’s columns for your perusal. Human Events has a brief history on Novak’s columns:

Novak’s column was the longest-running political column in history. The Evans-Novak column, which he founded with the late Roland Evans, was distributed by Publishers Newspaper Syndicate on May 15, 1963, with the New York Herald-Tribune its flagship newspaper. When the Herald-Tribune folded three years later, the Chicago Sun-Times became their home paper. Novak recently recalled that William F. Buckley, Jr,’s column was started one month before, and therefore held the longevity record until Buckley’s sad passing earlier this year.

Best of luck and God bless to Novak as he prepares to start the radiation and chemo.