Occidental Lets Memory of Ex-Chief Fade : Energy: The annual report has a simple dedication to Armand Hammer, who ran the firm for decades before his death in December.

At Occidental Petroleum Corp., company patriarch Armand Hammer is rapidly becoming the man who wasn’t there.

The latest sign of that is the just-released 1990 annual report for Occidental, the company that Hammer ran for more than 30 years before his death at age 92 last December.

Hammer is virtually invisible in the current 68-page report and its 40-page supplement--a marked departure from previous editions that featured color photos of “the Doctor” and generous descriptions of his favorite charitable and cultural activities.

The report contains no picture, no obituary, no homage to Hammer’s life--not even a description of the newly opened Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Westwood. Just a simple dedication on the inside front cover: In Memoriam, Dr. Armand Hammer, 1898-1990.

“The management is doing back flips to dissociate themselves from Dr. Hammer,” said one industry analyst. “The fact that this annual report has come out and has nothing more than the most cursory mention of Hammer is certainly part of that fabric.”

The reason? The analyst argues that Hammer’s policies of the last few years dragged down the company’s worth, engendered shareholder dissatisfaction and hurt Occidental’s credibility on Wall Street.

Hammer’s successor as chairman, Ray R. Irani, moved swiftly after Hammer’s death to restructure the company and put it on sounder financial footing. “The body wasn’t even cold,” the analyst said.

Part of that strategy apparently was to make a clean break with the past--the need for which becomes ever more clear as Hammer’s survivors argue over his will.

“(Irani) has severed the umbilical cord from his administration and Hammer’s with a vengeance,” the analyst said.

He added: “It’s a welcome change.”

The final indignity? The proxy statement for the company’s annual shareholders meeting reveals that the company has canceled a $480,000 sequel to Armand Hammer’s 1987 official biography. The last volume would have been the third in a series.

Occidental officials wouldn’t comment on the matter.