KPMG Manager DeWald Quits, Takes Adviser Role

Maurice J. DeWald, managing partner of KPMG Peat Marwick in Los Angeles for the past four years, announced Wednesday that he will retire and take a temporary position as a senior adviser at a time that the giant accounting firm is undergoing a nationwide restructuring.

DeWald will be succeeded by Clarence T. Schmitz, who has served as partner-in-charge of auditing in the Los Angeles office since his arrival last June. The Los Angeles office, one of 135 nationwide, is KPMG’s third-largest generator of revenue. Its staff of about 1,000 operates from offices in Las Vegas, Ventura County, Woodland Hills, Long Beach, Century City and Los Angeles.

DeWald, 50, said he will retire as an adviser in late 1991 to pursue other business opportunities. However, DeWald, chairman of the Music Center’s Unified Fund and a trustee at many local institutions, including United Way of Los Angeles, St. John’s Hospital and Health Center and Loyola Marymount University, said he will remain in the Los Angeles area.

“I’ve had a 28-year career--a great experience,” DeWald said. “Rather than press for another four or five years, I decided to retire . . . and embark on a new career while there’s time to be serious about a new pursuit.”

DeWald said his decision was not related to the changes at the New York-based KPMG Peat Marwick. The company--owned by the world’s largest professional service firm, the Amsterdam-based KPMG--is expected to announce details of the restructuring today.

Schmitz, 42, is a director. A 20-year veteran with the firm, Schmitz previously served as chief of the International Mergers and Acquisitions Group at KPMG’s headquarters in Amsterdam.