Nintendo today announced that its president, Satoru Iwata, has died at the age of 55.
"Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth," the company said in a brief statement.
In June 2014, Iwata had surgery to remove a tumor in his bile duct. He was back at work for an October earnings call, during which he said "it was a major illness and surgery, so compared to before, I may shorten the time I'm at work, or perhaps I may cut back on overseas business trips."
"But in terms of holding meetings, considering strategy, and speaking publicly, I believe I've recovered enough to work as I had before," he said at the time.
As PCMag's sister site IGN noted, Iwata has been with Nintendo since 1980s, when he worked as a programmer. He was named director in 2000 and president in 2002 when Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down. Yamauchi passed away in 2013 at the age of 85.