Lloyd LaCuesta, one of the best known and most tireless reporters in the Bay Area, announced Wednesday that he’s retiring on June 15 after 35 years as a reporter at KTVU.

LaCUESTA

“I have spent half of my life at KTVU which makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye. But it is time,” said LaCuesta. “I need to slow down and truly enjoy life.”

The Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub calls LaCuesta the “iron man” of local journalism. Hartlaub starts out his piece on LaCuesta’s retirement by saying, “A mere ‘congratulations’ seems a little weak for KTVU reporter Lloyd LaCuesta, who announced this week that he’s retiring after 36 years of covering every brutal storm and quadruple homicide since ‘Afternoon Delight’ was No. 1 on the charts.”

LaCuesta is the longest tenured reporter at KTVU and has held the title of South Bay Bureau Chief for decades.

He has won numerous awards including six Emmys and numerous honors in the Press Club’s annual contest over the years.

KTVU, in a statement Wednesday, said that LaCuesta’s live reporting was integral to “The Ten O’Clock News” winning a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Newscast Excellence in 2004 from RTNDA.

“Lloyd has such great contacts in the community,” said Channel 2 News Director Ed Chapuis. “He has always been able to break stories and get interviews that other reporters can’t get. People trust him … It has been an honor to pencil ‘Lloyd LaCuesta’ into the line-up each night. He made KTVU better just by stepping onto the field each day.”

He was the first elected national president of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and the first president of Unity Journalists of Color. He is on AAJA’s prestigious list of pioneer Asian American journalists and is a recipient of AAJA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. LaCuesta was inducted into the NATAS Silver Circle in 2004 for his many years of outstanding Bay Area reporting.