A new study of executive compensation should make Occupy Wall Street’s day. The study of CEO pay at S&P 500 companies by corporate governance research firm GMI found that the median “realized” compensation (including total annual compensation, change in pension and non-qualified deferred compensation, value realized on exercise of options, value realized on vesting of other equity, and any payments from a vested retirement benefit plan) surged by 36.5 percent in 2010. Total realized compensation for all CEOs rose 27 percent compared to a 13 percent increase in total annual compensation.

Adding fuel to the ire of the 99 percent set: Four of the 10 highest paid CEOs last year were retired or terminated executives receiving exit packages. 

The individual with the highest total realized compensation was John H. Hammergen of McKesson Corporation, who earned more than $145 million, followed by Omnicare’s Joel F. Gemunder, who earned more than $98 million. The tenth highest earner was Wall Street icon Mario Gabelli of Gamco Investors, with about $56.6 billion.....

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