Nintendo reports that Satoru Iwata, president and CEO, died July 11 due to a bile duct growth. He was 55.

Iwata worked his way up from a star programmer to director in 2000, before he became president in 2002 and CEO in 2013. He led Nintendo through years of growth with the Super Mario Bros. and Pokemon franchises, plus the Wii home and DS handheld consoles.

What endeared Iwata to Nintendo fans was how approachable he was. During his 2005 E3 presentation, he told attendees that he was playing Super Smash Bros. the night before, against someone named Reggie. "As Nintendo president, I am also all about asking questions," he said. "So Reggie, I have a question for you: Who's your daddy?"

More famously, he said, “On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer, but in my heart, I am a gamer."

Next on Iwata's agenda was for Nintendo to move into mobile gaming. The company had been slow to adapt to an era where people spend their free time on their smartphones, either playing games or on social media. Nintendo has also been working on a "quality of life" program, picking up where it left off with Wii Fit, though further details have yet to be released.

"It wasn't just a consumer product that he had delivered," Nobuyuki Hayashi, consultant and technology expert, said to Los Angeles Times. "He brought to people something that's eternal, what people remember from when they were kids. He was special."