Melissa McCoy is the Los Angeles Times deputy managing editor for copy desks, standards and the editorial library. She's decided to leave at the end of the week. Her email note today to her staffs:

From: McCoy, Melissa
To: yyCopyEds; yyLibAll; yyStandards
Sent: Tue Mar 10
Subject: wanted you to hear it from me...

Friends, I wanted you to hear directly from me that I’ve decided to leave the paper. My last day will be Friday, though this is not an abrupt decision. After 17 years and more great memories than I can count, it’s a bittersweet goodbye. I’ve had a great run, and I’m hoping to surprise even myself with whatever comes next.

For those of you staying, I say--keep fighting. I and other Southern Californians owe you a debt of gratitude. There will never be another Los Angeles Times, and there will never be a more dedicated bunch of colleagues. I miss you already. Russ will name my successor soon, and The Times will remain dedicated to the high standards you’ve all worked so hard to maintain.

Yours in friendship and exactitude,
Melissa

McCoy led the paper's updating of its language rules last year and first popped up on LA Observed in 2003 when the Times stopped calling the combatants firing on American soldiers in Iraq resistance fighters.