Longtime KTRK News Director Dave Strickland is resigning from the station.

Strickland had been M-I-A from the station for the past few weeks and rumors were flying that he would soon be leaving. 

On Friday, Strickland told the staff in a memo that he was leaving.

In the memo, Strickland cited the job was affecting his family, life and personal relationships.

Strickland was news director for 14 years. He started at KTRK as an intern, worked his way up to sports producer, then news producer. In between his KTRK time, Strickland was news director of WAVYNorfolk, Virginia.

KTRK general manager Henry Florsheim sent a staff email thanking Strickland for his service and recounting all of the advances Strickland made to the station during his tenure. "It’s almost impossible for me to express the impact Dave Strickland has had on Eyewitness News over the nearly decade and a half he has served as News Director. During his tenure, he’s overseen the greatest and most rapid expansion of news programming in the station’s existence," Florsheim said in the memo.

No interim news director has been named.

H/T Mike McGuff