I have no intention of taking a census of "reputable publishers" but sincerely doubt you are right about that. AFAIK publishers choose editors, not outgoing editors. As long as the parting is amicable (as Bob Grommes's was) I am sure most publishers would welcome their input and suggestions. That is quite different from any kind of responsibility. Are you claiming omniscience about the publishing industry now based on your brief affiliation with Apress?

Of course, publishers have the final word.

Mike, an out-going editor-in-chief should be prepared to recommend at least one name, if not more than one name.

Let me put it to you this way - suppose CoDe Magazine had a Baker's Dozen series prior to 2004, and that I took it over at the time. Then I decided today that I wanted to move on. It would be my professional responsibility to name some people who could realistically take that over. Sure, it would be their decision. And we are not talking about an editor-in-chief, we are talking about a column....so the weight is much higher for the entire publication.

I'm not claiming omniscience. But I've worked with publishers in one way or another for going on five years. Before that I studied publications for years, and at one time could tell you about most of the nuts and bolts of such older publications as PC Tech Journal and Turbo Technix.