Edmund Pratt, 75; Pfizer CEO Focused Firm on Pharmaceutical R

Edmund T. Pratt Jr., 75, the retired chairman and chief executive of Pfizer Inc., died Thursday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. His family said he died after a short illness.

Pratt, who joined Pfizer as controller in 1964, retired in 1992, and served as board member and chairman emeritus until early 1997. Pfizer named Pratt chairman and CEO in 1972.

During his tenure as CEO, Pratt narrowed the company’s focus from manufacturing to pharmaceutical research and development, the company said.

Pratt was born in Savannah, Ga., and graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

He earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1949.

He served as controller of IBM World Trade Corp. from 1958 to 1962.

Pratt served in the Navy during the Korean War and later worked in the Kennedy administration as an assistant secretary of the Army.