Final Year Nets Firm’s CEO $3.2 Million

Bergen Brunswig Corp. paid Chairman Robert E. Martini $3.2 million in the year he stepped down as chief executive of the Orange-based drug wholesaler.

Martini, the company’s biggest shareholder, received nearly $2.3 million in retirement-related benefits, according to a proxy filing Monday for the company’s fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1997.

The former executive, who is 66, succeeded his older brother, the late Emil Martini, as chief executive in 1990 and as chairman in 1992.

For the year ended last September, Robert Martini received $612,500 in salary and bonuses for serving four months as chief executive, then as an employee and finally a consultant, the proxy states.

He also received options to purchase 62,500 shares of stock at an exercise price of $26. The company’s stock closed Monday at $40.88 a share, off 13 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Martini remains a $300,000-a-year consultant to the company.

According to the proxy, the company also included as compensation a total of $81,900 that Martini saved in potential interest costs on interest-free borrowings from the company.

As of June 30, he had $1.4 million in interest-free loans outstanding through the company’s executive loan program.

Martini’s 5.41% stake in the company is worth about $69 million.

A company spokeswoman said officials couldn’t be reached for comment.