The third president of Japanese multinational consumer electronics company Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi passed away on September 19, 2013, at the age of 85. Reports mentioned that Yamauchi – who was the company's president for more than 50 years – died of pneumonia at a hospital in central Japan.
The former Nintendo president was also the owner of the Seattle Mariners major league baseball club, before he sold it to the the company’s US unit back in 2004. Yamauchi was the president of Nintendo from 1949 to 2002 and was also responsible for the company's international growth, including developing the early Family Computer consoles, as well as Game Boy portables.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 and produced games like Pokemon and Super Mario, along with the Wii U home console. The company also made traditional playing cards before turning to video games. Yamauchi was considered to be one of the richest men in Japan.
He was also responsible for some of the most crucial moves for the company, like employing talents like Shigeru Miyamoto – a global star of game design – who created super hit games like Super Mario and Donkey Kong. At the time of his death, Yamauchi was the biggest shareholder at Nintendo.
Photo Credits: IGN
