George Melloan, the deputy editor, international, of The Wall Street Journal and the author of the WSJ’s weekly “Global View” column for the past 16 years, is retiring from the Journal at the end of this week. His final Global View column is here, which concludes as follows:

As readers may have suspected from the above, this is my last Global View column. After 54 years of joy at being part of a great news organization, I am retiring at the end of this week. I will keep myself busy writing a book about the 36 years I have spent writing and editing a portion of the copy you have read on the Journal editorial pages.
Part of the pleasure of this column has been the exchanges I’ve had with readers. Let me thank again those of you who have been generous with your time in sending me your thoughts and criticisms. A tiny few readers have expressed their disagreement in barnyard terms, but, having grown up on an Indiana farm, I long ago became familiar with that kind of discourse. I can quite understand hostile reactions to the preachments of a newspaper columnist, since I occasionally have tantrums myself when I disagree with a journo who sees the world in a different light. In America, neither side, thank goodness, can use the power of the state to suppress the other.
I will leave this column in the hands of a far younger and more talented writer. It has been fun, but all good things must end. Sayonara.

Melloan is a talented writer on business and politics, and I have liberally cited his columns in these previous posts. His common sense and — most of all — clear thinking will be sorely missed. Congratulations on a fine career and a job well done.