July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Kay Whitmore, former chairman and chief executive officer of Eastman Kodak Co., has died. He had turned 72 on Saturday.

Whitmore died last night at Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, New York. He had been diagnosed with leukemia, Kodak said.

Whitmore spent 36 years at Kodak, the world's biggest photography company. He was named general manager of the photographic division in 1981, president in 1983 and CEO on June 1, 1990, succeeding Colby Chandler.

He was fired in August 1993 by Kodak's board after the departure of Chief Financial Officer Christopher Steffen in April. The two had clashed over the pace of the company's restructuring. The board, in ousting Whitmore, cited the need for deeper and faster cost cuts than Whitmore was willing to make.

Whitmore was replaced by George Fisher from Motorola Inc., the first CEO from outside the company, to accelerate the company's transition to the digital age.

``Everyone recognized the need to cut costs,'' said David L. Swift, who was Whitmore's executive assistant at the time. ``Kay could have caved in and rode along, but he believed in doing what was best for the company.

``And it probably cost him his job,'' said Swift, now executive vice president of Whirlpool Corp.

``Kay grew up in an era of film and found the transition to digital very challenging and difficult to comprehend,'' said John Larish, a retired senior market-intelligence analyst at Rochester- based Kodak.

Devout Mormon

Whitmore was born July 24, 1932, in Salt Lake City. He received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Utah.

A Mormon, Whitmore worked almost his entire adult life within 75 miles of Hill Cumorah in western New York. That is where, Mormons believe, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith, received the golden plates that make up the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni. After he was fired, Whitmore spent a year on a Mormon mission.

Whitmore is survived by his wife, Yvonne, four daughters and two sons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Subrata N. Chakravarty in New York at SChakravarty@Bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 27, 2004 17:29 EDT