Robert “Rosey” Rosenthal (pictured) says he’s leaving Friday as the Chron’s managing editor without giving the customary two-week’s notice because “[t]he next two weeks are going to be so tumultuous there, for me to linger around when I could not be part of the future did not make sense.” That’s according to an interview he gave to Joe Strupp of E&P.

The article also says that executive editor Phil Bronstein declined to comment when asked if he had tried to keep Rosenthal on the job. Bronstein called that a personnel matter. Rosenthal said he was not pushed out by Bronstein or anyone else, but said the 100 layoffs announced May 17, including 20 management positions, will mean that Bronstein will have to take over much of the hands-on editing that he had delegated to others.

Rosenthal also told E&P he was not sure why Hearst had to resort to such measures — cutting 25 percent of the newsroom staff — given the quality of the work his staff produces. “I don’t really understand it,” he said of the Chronicle’s poor financial situation. “I don’t know why it has been such a difficult situation for the Chronicle on the business side.” [See item below.]