The View's Barbara Walters is Retiring at 83

Barbara Walters is retiring.

The veteran ABC News anchor, 83, is set to announce Monday morning on The Viewthat she will retire from TV journalism next summer.

ABC said in an announcement late Sunday that, until then, Barbara Walters will continue to anchor and report for the network, anchor specials throughout the year, and appear onThe View.

“I am very happy with my decision,” Walters said, “and look forward to a wonderful and special year ahead.”

She added: “I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain. I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very gifted women – and, okay, some men, too – who will be taking my place.”

She will remain executive producer of The View, the weekday talk show she created in 1997.

Walters has spent 37 years at ABC News, joining the network in 1976 to become the first female co-anchor on an evening news program. Three years later, she became a co-host of ABC’s 20/20 newsmagazine.

Before coming to ABC, she spent 15 years at NBC News, where she was a co-host of theToday show.”