It’s rare for an episode of Live with Kelly and Mark to feel somber, but on this morning’s show, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos and the rest of the crew of the talk show spent most of the episode giving an emotional farewell to longtime ABC executive Art Moore, who retired today after more than five decades at the network.

Moore was WABC-TV’s Vice President of Programming and Live‘s executive in charge of production, and had been with the show since 1989 (back when it was Live with Regis and Kathie Lee). After spending over 53 years at ABC, often appearing in segments on Live and poking fun of himself, he announced he would be retiring in May, and today marked his last day.

The episode featured several lengthy montages of Moore’s funniest moments on the show (one of them set to a very down-tempo version of the Golden Girls’ theme sing “Thank You For Bein’ A Friend”), but it was Ripa’s toast to Moore in the closing moments of the show that turned on the waterworks for those of us watching at home.

Raising a glass of sparkling cider (because, you know, it wasn’t even 10 a.m.), Ripa told Moore, “I don’t know where to begin but I will say, this is not us saying goodbye to you. We will never say goodbye to you, as you know.

“You have been the singular most important person to every single person here. As evidenced by the amount of people that you work with each and every day who love, honor and cherish you and everything you have given to us,” she continued. “You are a giver and we honor you and shower you with our gratitude and love, eternally.”

Ripa then embraced Moore and whispered, “I love you,” to him as Consuelos, producer Michael Gelman, and announcer Deja Vu raised their glasses to him.

In an interview with DECIDER, Ripa admitted that she and Consuelos “are both in denial” about Moore’s retirement.

“Have a wonderful weekend and tune in on Monday when Art returns!” Ripa joked as she signed off the episode.

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.