WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush announced Friday that press secretary Tony Snow, who has waged a battle with cancer while manning the White House lectern, will resign and be replaced by his deputy, Dana Perino, on Sept. 14.

"It's been joy to watch him spar with you," Bush told the White House press corps in the briefing room.

Snow, who had said recently that he would leave before the end of Bush's presidency, said cancer was not the reason he was stepping down. Instead, the father of three said he needs to make more than his White House salary of $168,000. He can earn far more money on the speechmaking circuit.