WASHINGTON (AP) - Tony Snow, the highly visible White House press secretary, will leave his job on Sept. 14 and be replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, an administration official said Friday. President Bush was to announce the changes during an appearance in the White House briefing room. Snow, ailing with cancer, had said recently he would leave before the end of Bush's presidency. The father of three children, Snow said he needs to make more than his White House salary of $168,000. He could earn far more money on the speechmaking circuit.
The 52-year-old Snow was a conservative pundit and syndicated talk- show host on Fox News Radio before he was named press secretary on April 26, 2006. Snow earned his stripes within the White House for his striking popularity around the country, relentlessly good-natured and bright tone, and smooth, snappy repartee with the media during briefings.
In 2005, Snow had his colon removed and underwent six months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer. This March, he underwent surgery to remove a growth in his abdominal area, near the site of the original colon cancer. Doctors determined it was a recurrence of his cancer. He was out of work for five weeks, then returned and underwent chemotherapy, treatments that only recently concluded and have left him thinner, grayer and with less hair.