UPDATE 1-AMR says hard drive with employee data stolen

* Hard drive stolen from AMR pension department

* Includes data on 79,000 former and current employees

* AMR offers free credit monitoring to affected workers

CHICAGO, July 2 (Reuters) - AMR Corp AMR.N, parent of American Airlines, on Friday said a hard drive containing personal information on 79,000 retirees, former employees, and current employees has been stolen from the company's pension department.

The theft from AMR's headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, was discovered and reported on June 4 and people who were potentially affected were notified by letters sent out on Friday offering them free one-year credit monitoring service, AMR said.

The drive contained data spanning the years 1960 through 1995. The data include names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers. The drive may have contained other data such as health insurance or bank account information, AMR said.

No customer information was stolen, the company said.

Shares of AMR were down 4.1 percent at $6.35 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Kyle Peterson, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)