Sad news out of Japan today as Nintendo released a brief statement confirming that president Satoru Iwata has died at the age of 55.

The statement says in part that, “Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.”

Iwata has always been a fan favorite of Nintendo players, joining the HAL Laboratory in the 1980s. He worked his way up the ladder and gained many admirers by working on games like EarthBound and Balloon Fight. In the year 2000 he became a Director for Nintendo and then was appointed as the fourth president of the company in 2002.

Iwata had to skip the 2014 E3 Expo show due to his failing health, but after an operation it was assumed that he was doing better. He even posted to Twitter that he was progressing well, which makes today’s sad news even more of a shock.

More recently, Iwata gained even more fans and admirers as the host of the popular Nintendo Direct programs.

Everyone at GiN and throughout the industry will miss Satoru Iwata. He did a lot of good for the industry and Nintendo, and made a lot of games that made people happy.