Charlotte, N.C. ? Ken Lewis was ousted as chairman of Bank of America Corp. on Wednesday after shareholders angry about the company’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. voted to separate the job from that of chief executive.

Lewis will remain the CEO of the bank, but board member Walter E. Massey, the president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, will become the bank’s chairman.

Shareholders narrowly voted at the bank’s annual meeting Wednesday to split the jobs following months of rancor over the Merrill Lynch acquisition. After the deal was sealed Jan. 1, Merrill Lynch reported $15 billion in fourth-quarter losses and it was learned that Bank of America had approved the early payout of billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees.