I have had the honor and good fortune to call Joe McGlamery boss since November 2002. And while, along the way, he became more than that, he has always been our leader at the Statesboro Herald.

As his health issues became more challenging, Joe decided earlier this year that he would retire at the end of June, 50 years after Charles Morris first hired him to make the Herald a better newspaper and a stronger business. Joe has never wavered from those two core goals and it has been easy for me, and all of us who ever worked for him to follow that lead.

I am eternally grateful to Joe for the confidence he placed in me in hiring me as executive editor and then again in promoting me to operations manager in 2012. 

Joe and I spent many hours together over the past few months while I interviewed him for the stories you will see in today's paper. While they are long, they still only scratch the surface of the measure of Joe's life, his dedication to the Statesboro Herald, his devotion to his family and his love for Bulloch County and Statesboro.

We held a retirement lunch for Joe last Thursday, June 19 in the Herald office where he spent so much of his time. More than 70 employees, past and present, of the Herald and our parent company Morris Multimedia gathered to wish him well and have a word with a man who has had such an impact on all of our lives.

The respect, admiration and appreciation for Joe that filled the large room was a fitting culmination of a career that has touched so many lives personally and professionally.

So, for my boss, my mentor and my friend, you may not be in the office, but you will always be here, at the Statesboro Herald.