Director steps down from Hollinger Inc

The Hollinger Inc board has been left with just three independent directors after Richard Rohmer's decision to quit.

The Hollinger Inc board has been left with just three independent directors after Richard Rohmer's decision to quit.

Mr Rohmer, 80, a retired general, resigned from Lord Black of Crossharbour's holding company for personal reasons, Hollinger Inc said yesterday. His departure, less than a year after he joined the board, brings to eight the number of directors who have quit the firm since last year.

"While I have full confidence in the company and its board, I have decided for personal reasons to retire," Mr Rohmer said in a statement yesterday.

"I reached this decision as a result of the significant and persistent workload associated with my service on the board, which I did not anticipate when I joined the board in January for what I thought would be a limited time."

A newspaper report over the weekend said Mr Rohmer was considering retiring because of the stress of the role. He was criticised for a "lack of assertiveness" last month in a ruling by the Delaware chancery court judge, Leo Strine, that quashed Lord Black's attempts to stop Hollinger International from selling The Daily Telegraph.

In November, the four independent members of Hollinger Inc's board and audit committee quit after losing a vote on management changes. Three more directors resigned before Mr Rohmer joined in January.

Another director, whose appointment was announced on the same day as that of Mr Rohmer, issued a statement a few days later saying that he had never been a member of the board.

Hollinger Inc's thinly traded common shares were unchanged yesterday. (Reuters)