The Los Angeles Times is losing another entertainment staffer, though this time it sounds like it’s a personal — rather than personnel — decision.
John Lippman, who edited “Company Town,” is leaving the paper and moving to New Hampshire.
Lippman, who returned to the paper in 2007 after a stint with the Wall Street Journal, will leave at the end of the month.
Here’s assistant managing editor Sallie Hofmeister’s memo to staff, via L.A. Observed:
I regret to report that John Lippman, after more than three years as Company Town editor, is leaving at the end of the month. John and his wife Eve are moving to New England to raise their two young daughters in closer proximity to family. John has taken a job as an editor at the Valley News in Lebanon, New Hampshire (population 13,500).
John will be greatly missed. It’s not only his dapper dress — the bow ties, Goodwill suits and colorful suspenders — but his goofy antics. (How about the time he drank helium from a balloon and sang Happy Birthday to Gina or came into the office on Oscar day decked in white tie and tails?) More than anything, though, it’s John’s skill as an editor that will be hardest to replace. Dedicated and hard-working, John brought high standards, tough editing and a broad knowledge of the media landscape. We thank him for contributions that include reviving Company Town, after nearly a decade in mothballs, both in print and online.
We will post John’s position. Claudia will serve as interim Cotown chief upon John’s exit. We will throw him a party before he leaves, and hear this: Whoever took his partition of Groundworks coffee cups, this is your last chance to give them back!
Nonetheless, as L.A. Observed notes, Lippman is among more than a dozen staffers to have left voluntary during Hofmeister’s tenure.
