Longtime Merck CEO Ken Frazier to Retire

Ken Frazier, chairman and chief executive officer of Merck speaks, with President Donald Trump at (L), during an event to announce a Merck, Pfizer, and Corning joint partnership to make glass containers for medication, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, on July 20, 2017. Alex Brandon/File/AP Photo

Ken Frazier, the longtime chief executive of Merck and one of the few remaining black CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, is retiring.

Frazier, Merck’s CEO for the past decade, will be replaced by Rob Davis, the chief financial officer, the company said Thursday. Frazier will become executive chairman of the board during a transition period.