Alan Stone, the former President and CEO of Sega Entertainment and Founding President of Sega GameWorks, passed away last Friday due to cancer. He was 71.

Stone had a long career in the video game industry. He co-founded Far East Video in 1979 that imported Japanese arcade games to America, which lead to his being Co-Founder and Vice President of Nintendo of America when the subsidiary opened up in 1981.

Stone remained at Nintendo until 1994, when he jumped ship to Sega Enterprises (now Sega Entertainment). He was a good fit with his long history in the arcade industry. He remained at Sega Enterprises for 10 years before moving onto other ventures.

On Stone’s passing, former President and CEO of Sega of America Thomas Kalinske shared his thoughts on Twitter yesterday: