SPECIAL REPORT: EXECUTIVE PAY : Take my job, please

Six of the highest paid executives at California’s 100 biggest public companies made the grade thanks to lucrative severance arrangements. Richard K. Eamer, the former chief executive of beleaguered National Medical Enterprises, got $7.9 million worth of severance payments, accrued vacation time and accelerated retirement benefits. Leonard Cohen, NME’s former president, got $2.16 million. Joseph Francesconi, former executive vice president of Amdahl, got a $1.39-million “separation payment.” Dennis Eck, former president of Vons, got $1.38 million. Jerry St. Dennis, former chairman of CalFed Inc., got $1.43 million; CalFed’s former president, William Callender, got a $1.67 million farewell.