Anchor Mark Suppelsa tells WGN colleagues he’ll retire at end of 2017

Veteran Chicago TV journalist Mark Suppelsa, currently a top anchor at WGN-Channel 9, plans to retire at year’s end.

“My wife and I have for years planned carefully for this period of our lives,” Suppelsa said in a letter to colleagues quoted Thursday. “Now that our kids are out of college and about to launch their own careers, we decided we are ready to wind down ours.”

The news was first reported by media columnist Robert Feder.

Suppelsa, 55, now anchors the 5, 9 and 10 p.m. weekday newscasts on Channel 9 alongside Micah Materre. He joined WGN in 2008 after earlier stints at WMAQ-Channel 5 and WFLD-Channel 32.

The newsman’s letter made no mention of the looming takeover of WGN parent Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Suppelsa took a leave of absence in 2012 to enter an alcohol recovery program in Minnesota. In a candid letter to WGN staff, he admitted to “abusing alcohol at the end of my work day as my family slept. It was my secret and I became very accomplished at hiding it.”