Unisys Chief to Retire, Will Join Lazard Freres

W. Michael Blumenthal, Unisys Corp. chairman and chief executive, will retire in April to join the investment banking firm Lazard Freres & Co. as a limited partner, Unisys said Thursday.

Blumenthal, 64, will remain chairman of the Unisys board, the company said.

Meeting in Detroit, the company’s board chose President James A. Unruh, 48, to assume the additional duties of chief executive after Blumenthal’s retirement.

“After almost two decades of managing major industrial companies and 10 years at Burroughs and Unisys, the time has come for my long-planned retirement,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

Blumenthal, who engineered Burroughs Corp.’s 1986 takeover of Sperry Corp. to form Unisys, was Treasury secretary in the Carter Administration. He indicated last year that he planned to retire shortly.

At New York-based Lazard Freres, Blumenthal will serve as co-chairman of a new international investment group, his statement said.