At midday Friday, William M. Daley, a former commerce secretary and the son and brother of Chicago mayors, passed the baton as White House chief of staff to Jacob J. Lew, the former budget director.

Mr. Daley, who resigned after a bumpy year in the job, got a standing ovation at the daily morning meeting of senior White House advisers, reflecting the personal popularity of a man who nonetheless never fully fit in with Mr. Obama’s insular inner circle. And he reciprocated by providing deep-dish pizza, cheesecake and Garrett’s popcorn – all culinary favorites from his beloved Chicago, where he now returns – to be served all day from the White House mess.

Mr. Daley and Mr. Lew, who until Friday was the president’s budget director, had dinner on Thursday at a restaurant near the White House to discuss their transition. Mr. Lew has all but completed the biggest job he faced, the preparation of Mr. Obama’s annual budget request. It will be released Feb. 13.

In one of his first acts as chief of staff, Mr. Lew, the third in the role under Mr. Obama, accompanied the president to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to join House Democrats at their retreat to discuss legislative strategy for this election year. Mr. Lew will join Mr. Obama on Saturday night for annual Alfalfa Club dinner, a formal gathering of Washington elites at which presidents traditionally speak. It is not the kind of function that the private Mr. Lew typically frequents.

Replacing Mr. Lew as the acting budget director is Jeffrey Zients, who had been a deputy director. Mr. Obama is not expected to nominate a budget director for the final year of his term, aides say, given the difficulty of winning Senate confirmation over almost-routine Republican opposition to his appointees.