William Dean Singleton, the 62-year-old founder and chairman of the company that owns the Daily News of Los Angeles and the Daily Breeze, announced Monday he will retire in the coming weeks, citing health concerns.

Singleton is chairman of MediaNews Group of Denver, which owns the Los Angeles New Group, parent of the Daily News and Daily Breeze. It also owns the Long Beach Press-Telegram, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News and Whittier Daily News.

A report in the Denver Post said Singleton’s decision to retire was based partly on a long battle with multiple sclerosis.

Singleton is known mainly for his strategy of consolidating large numbers of local newspapers to realize costs efficiencies. In recent years MediaNews has also increased its focus on finding new ways to make money in digital news, and is now managed by a company called Digital First Media in New York.

MediaNews Chief Executive John Paton expressed his regard for Singleton in a statement to the Denver Post.

“Dean is a newspaper legend and you don’t replace a legend. Our job now will be to build on the great company Dean has created,” Paton said.