3 top figures at Denver Post, including former owner, quit

DENVER — Three top figures at The Denver Post, including its former owner, resigned Friday amid budget and staff cuts made by the newspaper’s New York-based hedge fund owners.

Several Post reporters tweeted that Dean Singleton had stepped down as chairman and from his position on the editorial board. He owned the newspaper from 1987 until 2013 and saw it through tough economic times and an intense rivalry with the Rocky Mountain News.

“I once told people I wanted The Post to be one of the 10 best newspapers in America, and I think we achieved that,” Singleton said in an interview published in the newspaper in October.

Senior editors Dana Coffield and Larry Ryckman also resigned Friday.

“I’m sad to leave, but it was time to go. I will be rooting for those still fighting the good fight,” Ryckman tweeted.

The Post published an editorial on April 6 headlined “As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved,” calling on Alden Global Capital to sell the newspaper after it cut 30 more positions in the newsroom, leaving it at a fraction of its size just a few years ago. Editorial Page Editor Chuck Plunkett did not inform the newspaper’s editor or owners of his intentions to publish the editorial.

He resigned Thursday after he said another piece critical of the company was rejected.

Alden owns a controlling interest in Digital First Media, which owns the Post.

Lee Ann Colacioppo, the Post’s editor, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday night.