CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Plain Dealer executed long-expected layoffs in its newsroom Wednesday morning on the eve of the end of seven-day home delivery of Ohio's largest newspaper.

In all, about 45 reporters, photographers, designers, editors and clerks were alerted by morning phone calls that they no longer had jobs. Several members of management were also let go in a downsizing that, coupled with resignations, trimmed the newsroom staff by about one-third.

Meanwhile, about 20 people were laid off from the Sun Newspapers, the weekly chain of 11 suburban papers in Greater Cleveland.

The Sun Newspapers, like The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com, are owned by New York-based Advance Publications Inc.

Advance, a private company run by heirs of S.I. Newhouse, has been cutting staff and publication schedules at its newspapers nationwide in favor of an online strategy for delivering the news.

In December, The Plain Dealer announced it would reduce union newsroom staffers from 168 to 110 and expand efforts to deliver the news on multiple platforms, primarily online. After the company and its newsroom union agreed to a severance package, about two dozen newsroom employees departed voluntarily.

This week, the Guild accused Plain Dealer management of misleading the union by cutting more union employees than it said it would. Dozens of guild members demonstrated outside of the newspaper Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement Wednesday, Plain Dealer President and Publisher Terry Egger said the company has a long history of strong relationships with its unions.

"We have always negotiated with them in good faith and have been able to reach and honor all agreements," he said. "This has been our practice in the past and we will continue to do the same in the future."

Guild members gathered on the front steps of the newspaper Wednesday evening to say goodbye to departing colleagues and to lament what many described as a severe blow to news coverage in Greater Cleveland. There were hugs and moist eyes and choked-up voices.

"It's a sad day for the community, a sad day in the history of Cleveland journalism," Harlan Spector, the chair of the Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild, said earlier. "An institution in this town is being replaced with something that will not be The Plain Dealer that was. Our ability to cover the news in this community will be diminished, of course."

Company executives said the layoffs were a hard but necessary decision, driven largely by declining advertising income, and that the company would marshal its resources to deliver a quality product in the digital age.

"It's just a very tough day," Egger said in a phone interview Wednesday. "We certainly feel for some very wonderful colleagues who are affected by this, but we need to reset the business and we need to move on."

The Sunday paper will include a reader's guide to the changes that begin Monday, when the newly formed Northeast Ohio Media Group will begin efforts to lead a digitally focused news operation in The Plain Dealer's market area.

While the newspaper will continue to publish a print edition daily, the paper will be home-delivered only on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Readers are encouraged to find their news online at an enhanced Cleveland.com or via an electronic replica of the newspaper called the e-edition. Full print subscribers will receive seven-day access to The Plain Dealer e-edition.