NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- After 15 years at Meredith Corp. and 16 years at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. before that, longtime publishing executive Bob Mate plans to retire at the end of this year.

A 25/7 career
"The career has been wonderful for me," said Mr. Mate, exec VP-publishing, Meredith. "I just felt that it was time for me to do something that means a chance to spend a little bit more time with my family. In this business, it's probably 25-7 that we work, and that's not a typo."

Jack Griffin, president, Meredith Publishing Group, in a memo to staff said the company will miss him. "Anyone who has worked with Bob knows the dedication he brings to his work," Mr. Griffin wrote. "His commitment and work ethic, along with his belief in Meredith, our people and our products, have made him an invaluable asset to our company and to the people who have worked alongside him."

No successor named
A direct successor to Mr. Mate will not be named, but Meredith has appointed Michael Brownstein, who handles shelter books such as Country Home and Traditional Home, to assume the additional responsibility of the Parenthood Group.

Mr. Mate, 60, joined Meredith in 1991 as VP-publishing director and went on to run magazine properties including Country America, Country Home, Midwest Living, Golf for Women, Wood, Successful Farming and Meredith's Special Interest Publications.

He also won responsibility for diversified business and marketing units such as Meredith Integrated Marketing, Meredith Books, Direct Response Sales, Database Marketing and the Meredith Travel Group. After Meredith bought most of the Gruner & Jahr USA magazines last year, he was named to oversee the Parenthood Group that resulted.

True man of media
As a true man of media, Mr. Mate isn't ruling out opportunities after Dec. 31. "With all the exciting things going on in the media world and media landscape, perhaps there's something interesting I would like to be become engaged with on a consulting basis or a start-up basis," he said.

Other plans? "I'm really excited about improving my chipping a little bit," he said. "Maybe seeing if I could resurrect my jump shot."