Lyden departs Fox 9 in Minneapolis after more than three decades

The following excerpt was sent out from m.startribune.com:

Tom Lyden has dedicated the past three decades to exposing crooks and con men, making him one of the trusted investigative reporters in the Twin Cities. Now he’s taking time to dig deeper into himself.

On Thursday, Lyden will leave Fox 9 News. It’s largely so he can be his 86-year-old mother’s primary caretaker near Mariposa, a small, picturesque town in California, where the most buzzed about crime on any given afternoon may be jacked up prices at the local diner.

But the departure is also a chance for Lyden to go off the grid for a while and set up the next chapter of his life.

“I am really struggling with who I am when I’m not Tom Lyden, Fox 9 investigator,” he said last week during a one-hour chat in the Star Tribune newsroom where he shed tears seven times. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll find out.”

Lyden, who turns 58 on Sept. 26, arrived in Minnesota in 1993 after a three-year stint as a crime reporter in Green Bay.

“Tom means as much to us as he does to the rest of the Twin Cities,” said Fox 9’s general manager Mim Davey. “He may be the most deeply sourced reporter Minnesota has ever had. He’s kind, but tough. He was the guy that regular people turned to when they had no hope.”

Fox 9 is planning a special tribute to Lyden that will run during the 9 p.m. broadcast on Thursday. Lyden has put together a package that reflects on his 30 years in the Twin Cities and that also looks at how parental care has affected so many of his generation.