We’ve learned some deeply unfortunate news: Nintendo’s president, Satoru Iwata, has passed away at the age of 55.

Nintendo confirmed the news in a press release:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth.

For those who haven’t been following the Nintendo boss and his personal health, he was forced to skip last year’s E3 because of his health. He went into surgery shortly thereafter to remove the bile duct growth. Things seemed ok at the time, and he returned to work shortly afterwards.

Iwata was first hired at Nintendo during the 1980s, in which he worked on various games like EarthBound and even Kirby’s Adventure. He eventually became director in the year 2000, and finally became the fourth president of Nintendo, in 2002.

Satoru Iwata, when he first joined HAL Laboratory full-time, in the 1980’s.

Our best wishes go out to Iwata’s family and friends.