Bruce Steps Down as Alpharel Chief Executive

Robert T. Bruce, the chief executive of Alpharel Inc. who helped bring the Camarillo company back from the brink of bankruptcy last year, stepped down from his post Monday to spend more time at his home in Aspen, Colo.

Bruce, 56, said he will remain as chairman of Alpharel’s board through next year and will stay with the company on a day-to-day basis through this year to help it complete several projects.

Bruce was replaced as chief executive by Roger H. Erickson, a company director and formerly its vice president of engineering.

“I never came to spend the rest of my life at this company,” Bruce said in an interview. “Part of trying to build up something is you have to have a group of people that can carry things on. I feel very confident that we have put that team together.”

Alpharel, a producer of computer imaging systems, has been on a rebound this year after Bruce became chief executive in April, 1990, and started a restructuring and cost-cutting program.