It's the people who make a newspaper.

You can employ many more than we ever had at the Rocky Mountain News yet not achieve your goals. They can come from big-name places with stellar credentials yet still not achieve your goals.

What's necessary is a shared attitude, a commitment to common journalistic values and - of course - talent. You have to have hard workers, energetic, intelligent journalists who demand the best from themselves.

It has been my place as editor over the past 11 years to build on the identity of this newspaper, to strengthen the quality we call "Rockyness," the thing that makes readers call it "my Rocky," rather than "The Post," as Coloradans typically refer to Denver's other daily.

We've been able to do that because the journalists joining us knew they were becoming part of something special, a band of men and women who believed they could accomplish much more together than on their own. I can point to many examples where they have done just that.

Before I ever made a job offer, I would ask candidates a version of this question: "If you were on a sailboat at sea, and a bitter storm whipped up, would you think of all the things you should have on board to help you survive or would you immediately set to work with what you had?" If the former, I said, the Rocky would probably not be the place for you.

The collaboration in our newsroom in the face of many storms has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my job. The other is the response our work received from you, the way you reached out to us and made us part of your lives.

It's been a wild ride. Despite the end we have reached, I could not be more grateful for the opportunity you and the owners of this newspaper have given us.

I am only sorry it can't go on.