Mar. 12--The top executive at Charlotte-based Goodrich Corp. got a bigger salary and bonus last year, but steep declines in stock awards and income from exercised stock options left him with a 42 percent drop in total compensation.

Marshall Larsen -- chairman, chief executive and president of the Fortune 500 aerospace and defense company -- received roughly $7.8 million in total 2008 compensation, down from almost $13.6 million the previous year, according to a company filing with federal regulators Thursday. The Observer counts base salary, bonuses, the value of stock awards, profits from exercising stock options and "other" pay, such as use of corporate planes, as total compensation.

Larsen, 60, was paid $1.1 million in salary, up almost 7 percent from 2007. Bonus money came to nearly $2.2 million, up almost 22 percent from the previous year.

Those gains came as Goodrich shares lost nearly half their value in 2008, falling from more than $70 when trading opened in January to about $37 at the Dec. 31 market close. By comparison, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index finished the year down less than 40 percent.

But Goodrich posted more than $7 billion in sales last year, up 10 percent from 2007, and a profit for $681 million, up 41 percent.

Larsen saw a 55 percent plunge in stock awards, receiving roughly $2.3 million in 2008. He also gained just over $2 million from exercising option awards, down 62 percent from the previous year. Larsen received more than $193,000 in other compensation, including nearly $32,000 in airplane use, almost $18,000 in club memberships and a $15,000 auto allowance.

Headquartered off Tyvola Road, Goodrich has roughly 24,000 employees in about 90 facilities worldwide.

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