This weekend, Bob Schiffer will finally sign off from CBS's Face the Nation.

It's not the first time he tried to retire. Schieffer says he tried to retire a decade ago. CBS asked him to stay. He tried again a few years later. CBS asked him to stay. He tried once more last year. CBS asked him … well, you get the idea.

But this time it is really happening.

Sunday morning’s edition will be his last. He promises this retirement will stick.

“The interesting thing about my life — a lot of the recognition I got was after most people retired,” Schieffer said.

In the 12 years since he turned 65, Schieffer moderated his first presidential debate (and then his second and third); wrote a best-selling memoir, “This Just In”; and led “Face The Nation” to its highest viewership since he took over as the host in 1991.

He became a steady and familiar on-air presence while other prominent personalities came and went (Katie Couric, David Gregory), died (Tim Russert, Peter Jennings) or became mired in scandal (Brian Williams). Schieffer does not have the same star power that many of his peers enjoy but the tumult of the news business over the past decade has given him room to thrive.

“I had a little at the end there,” Schieffer said in a telephone interview. “All of that happened when I was basically a senior citizen.”

Not a bad way to go out Bob.

Good Luck!

H/T NY Times