Manpower Chief Resigns Post by ‘Mutual Consent’

Mitchell S. Fromstein has resigned as president and chief executive of Manpower Inc., the giant temporary services firm that was taken over last year by Britain’s much smaller Blue Arrow PLC.

A statement from Blue Arrow said the resignation was by “mutual consent.” Antony G. Berry, Blue Arrow’s chairman and chief executive, assumed the same titles at Milwaukee-based Manpower, the statement said.

Fromstein, a former advertising executive, had run Manpower since 1976, when it was acquired by Parker Pen Co. He led Manpower’s efforts to fend off the Blue Arrow takeover, then agreed to stay on and run the company on the understanding that Manpower and Blue Arrow would maintain independent operations.

Blue Arrow was only a tenth the size of Manpower when it launched its takeover of the world’s largest temporary help company, a campaign that ended with Manpower’s purchase by the British company for $1.33 billion in September, 1987.