Robert Reed left because he was battling AIDS.
Pam Long had retired from soap writing to have her babies with Charles Jay Hammer. She was effectively the headwriter of SFT and Addie Walsh/Trent Jones were her outline writers/associate headwriters. But Pam wrote the long story for the last six months of the show which I thought sucked. Gary Tomlin was doing a good job and didn't need to be replaced but P&G loved Pam Long and wanted her in the fold; she needed a break from the grind of writing GL, an hour long show.
Does anyone have any info on the final producer of SFT, David Lawrence?
The best thing about the show was the casting in the last year or two. They hired many wonderful EON actors including Ann Flood, William Prince and Mauve McGuire!