Google has announced that Arthur Levinson has resigned from the company’s Board of Directors. He has been on the board since April 2004.

Erich Schmidt, who considers him both a "good friend" and "valued colleague," had this to say: "Art has been a key part of Google’s success these past five years, offering unvarnished advice and vital counsel on every big issue and opportunity Google has faced. Though he leaves as a member of our Board, Art will always have a special place at Google."

Levinson himself said, "Working with Eric, Larry, Sergey and the whole Google team has been a remarkable experience for me. I greatly admire what they’ve built and have no doubt that Google has a terrific future."

Not much more information has been given about the reasoning for Levinson’s departure from Google’s board, or any future plans for him.

Levinson is the former Chairman and CEO of Genentech, where he held the titles from 1995 to April of this year. He was named chairman of the board in 1999. According to Wikipedia, Levinson was rated the "nicest" CEO of 2008 by Glassdoor.com, with a 93% approval rating. He has also sat on Apple’s board.

The site gives more of a bio on him: He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1972, and his PhD in Biochemistry from Princeton University in 1977. He subsequently moved to a postdoctoral position with Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus in the Department of Microbiology at UCSF, from where he was hired to Genentech by Herb Boyer.