Peter Gibson has only been the anchor of World News for two years but today ABC announced he will be retiring after a total of nearly 35 years with the network.

In am email to his staff Gibson said, “It has not been an easy decision to make, this has been my professional home for almost 35 years. And I love this news department, and all who work in it, to the depths of my soul.”

Gibson was planning to retire at the end of 2007 but was compelled to stay based on a series of unforeseeable events. After the death of long-time World News anchor Peter Jennings, Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas were named co-anchors of the evening news program. Only months after being named anchor, Woodruff suffered Traumatic Brain Injuries while embedded in Iraq with a group of American troops. Gibson was then named anchor of the show. Though he is stepping down, Gibson plans to continue as an occasional contributor with ABC News.

Long time Good Morning America host Diane Sawyer has been named as Gibson’s replacement. Sawyer’s promotion means that, with Katie Couric, two of the three anchors for the broadcast networks nightly news programs will be now be women for the first time.