Sam Pulcrano, VP of corporate communications for the U.S. Postal Service, will retire June 30 after a 37-year career that started as a mail handler.

Sam PulcranoPulcrano took the VP slot in January 2011 under Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman guiding internal and external communications, as well as the USPS' national network of field PR pros. His PR tenure included leading crisis communications during the ricin and anthrax attacks in 2001.

Judy de Torok, currently manager of integration & support to Stroman, has been named as interim VP until a permanent replacement is named. 

Former Reagan press secretary Larry Speakes, who joined USPS in 1994 after a PR stint at Northern Telecom, preceded Pulcrano.

In a statement, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe praised Pulcrano as an "excellent leader" of the service's corporate communications "during one of the highest profile periods in our history."

Pulcrano previously created and led a sustainability program for the postal service, and held labor relations and HR posts after starting out as a mail handler in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 1975.