When I first joined NH Business Review in 1983, the largest private employer in the state was the Brown Paper Company in Berlin, a name that many readers may never have heard before or barely remember. Thirty-year mortgage rates were finally falling below 15 percent. And New Hampshire’s population was recovering after undergoing a mass exodus of residents to mostly southern states, where the state’s once-abundant textile mill jobs had gone.

Times have changed. Over the years, I got a ringside seat to watch New Hampshire evolve, becoming a state with a diverse, robust economy, where people wanted to move to, where they could find jobs and homes and be welcomed into their communities.

It’s been a privilege to be a New Hampshire journalist over these years, especially one whose job it has been to cover the state’s business and economy. I’ve had a chance to meet and write about so many fascinating, creative and brilliant people whose ideas and actions have made such a difference.

Actually, to say it’s been a privilege is an understatement. That said, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished at NH Business Review over the years. But after nearly 48 years of deadlines as a professional journalist — 42 of them in New Hampshire — it’s time to take things a little easier. This is my last issue as editor of NHBR, as Mike Cote and Amanda Andrews take over in putting together a publication that does what no other does or has ever done in the Granite State. I know I leave it in very capable hands.

This doesn’t mean I’m leaving journalism forever. A college professor once told me, pointedly: “You can take the boy out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take Brooklyn out of the boy.” I think the same is true of journalism. I still have it in me, and there are several projects I’ll be working on. I hope that means our paths will cross again soon.