INSTANT VIEW: Bank of America's Lewis ousted as chairman

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp shareholders voted to oust Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis as chairman of the board on Wednesday after months of mounting criticism of his stewardship of the largest U.S. bank.

The bank's board "unanimously" expressed support for Lewis to stay in the CEO post despite the fact that shareholders "narrowly" approved a proposal to require an independent chairman.

Lewis, who will remain chief executive, will be replaced in the chairman post by Walter Massey, a director of the bank's board since 1998 and also a director of McDonald's Corp.

The following is reaction from industry analysts and investors:

JEFFREY SONNENFELD, PROFESSOR AND HEAD OF THE YALE CHIEF EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

"It's a shame that it took this near death experience to bring a board to fully engage and do the right thing- and this happens to be a board filled with some tremendous leaders.

"There are too many directors, and that dilutes the voices of the most knowledgeable directors."

"Especially in a time of crisis, it's important to point out that Ken Lewis is a honorable CEO with a storied career, who had a very bad last year and lost his legitimacy to lead."

"Lewis may have a lot of litigation ahead of him in the aftermath of his failure to disclose full information with regard to the bonuses and known value of Merrill Lynch when they were buying it."