Dennis Richmond announced today that he will retire from KTVU Channel 2 News in May 2008 after more than 40 years with the station. Here’s a release the station put out this afternoon along with a slideshow of career highlights.

KTVU says Richmond will continue to co-anchor the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts until May 21. Richmond started at KTVU on April 29, 1968 and has anchored The Ten o’Clock News on KTVU since 1976.

From the release

“I drove with a friend out to California in January 1968 with $400 in my pocket. I had recently finished a three year hitch in the Army and didn’t have a clear idea what I wanted to do,” said Richmond. “I had some family and friends in the Bay Area and didn’t know where I was going to stay, but I knew I needed to find a job.”

He landed at KTVU as a part-time clerk typist. By 1969, Richmond was a full-time reporter and he was covering the Bay Area’s biggest news stories, including some with national attention.

“We had a great opportunity competing against the networks on some big stories back then,” said Richmond. “Patty Hearst’s kidnapping, the Zebra Killings, Dan White’s shooting of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk; they were all high profile stories where the networks threw an army at us, but KTVU was scrappy and we scored some terrific wins with our coverage. Those were exciting times.”

While Richmond has vivid memories of his street reporting days, his decades of anchoring The Ten o’Clock News on KTVU Channel 2 has set him apart from others in the industry. He has delivered steady anchoring while being an eyewitness to history as he led KTVU’s coverage of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the Oakland Hills Fire, and field anchoring political conventions.

“Dennis is the ironman of the anchor desk at KTVU. It has been an honor penciling his name in the line-up each night. He’s been at KTVU for 40 years, but he could keep going for another decade if he wanted. He’s so strong; it’s hard to believe he’s retiring. We’d love to keep Dennis at KTVU forever and he knows that,” said KTVU News Director Ed Chapuis.

“I wish it wasn’t true. Dennis’s departure from the anchor chair will mark the end of an era in Bay Area television news. He is the ultimate pro and a good friend. What viewers don’t see every night is his compassion for people and his huge heart,” said KTVU co-anchor Julie Haener. “It has been a pleasure and an honor to co-anchor the evening news with him. There will never be another like Dennis.”

… Looking down the road at what life will be like in retirement, Richmond says, “I do know that I’m going to relax and get my golf handicap down. I might write a book, but it will definitely be fiction. My life in news has all been about the facts. So, I’m looking forward to making some stuff up.”