Nintendo President Satoru Iwata passed away Saturday, the company reported. He was 55.

Iwata's death was reported in a short statement by the company, which said that he passed away due to a bile duct growth.

The company's president skipped E3 in 2014 due to a surgery, but his health hasn't appeared problematic since. He had made several appearances on the company's Nintendo Direct broadcasts recently, including for this year's E3 last month.

Iwata has a long history with Nintendo, joining the company's HAL Laboratory studio in 1983 to work on games like Balloon Fight and EarthBound. He became Nintendo's director in 2000, then became its fourth president in 2002, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi. He also became the CEO of Nintendo of America in 2013.

Through his time at Nintendo, Iwata has been very interested in interacting with fans. Along with appearing in digital events, he hosted a column called Iwata Asks on Nintendo's site, where he interviewed other developers.

"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," said Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime in a statement.