Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Frank Cary, who helped drive the development of the personal computer as head of International Business Machines Corp. in the 1970s, died Jan. 1 at age 85.

Cary was chief executive officer of Armonk, New York-based IBM from 1973 to 1981, and chairman from 1973 to 1983, according to IBM's Web site. He most recently was a director at companies including printer maker Lexmark International Inc. and Lincare Holdings Inc., which provides patient therapy in the home.

During Cary's tenure, IBM introduced a 50-pound ``portable'' computer, the Selectric typewriter and a so-called Winchester hard drive, which stored twice the amount of information as previous hard drives. Cary left the CEO post the same year IBM introduced the first personal computer.

IBM more than doubled its sales and profit during Cary's time as CEO. He later served as chairman of biopharmaceutical company Celgene Corp. from 1986 to 1990.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rochelle Garner in San Francisco at rgarner4@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 4, 2006 15:07 EST