Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTC: NTDOY) announced Sunday that President Satoru Iwata had died of bile duct cancer. The executive's condition had reportedly worsened in recent days.

Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO of Nintendo of America, has released a statement regarding Iwata's passing:

"Mr. Iwata is gone, but it will be years before his impact on both Nintendo and the full video game industry will be fully appreciated. He was a strong leader for our company, and his attributes were clear to most everyone: Intelligence, creativity, curiosity and sense of humor. But for those of us fortunate enough to work closely with him, what will be remembered most were his mentorship and, especially, his friendship. He was a wonderful man. He always challenged us to push forward…to try the new…to upset paradigms—and most of all, to engage, excite and endear our fans. That work will continue uninterrupted."

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Iwata started his career in game development and worked his way up to becoming president of Nintendo in 2002. He maintained that role for the rest of his career and took over as CEO of Nintendo of America in 2013.

Genyo Takeda and acclaimed game developer Shigeru Miyamoto will serve as representative directors and senior managing directors in the interim, but it is not yet clear who will actually replace Iwata.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.