—-Satoru Iwata, 2005
The late Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata (岩田 聡 Iwata Satoru, December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was the fourth president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nintendo.
Biography
Satoru Iwata was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan in 1959 and began his career as a programer for Hal Laboratory straight out of college with a degree in Computer Science. Iwata's first game he produced was Rollerball for the NES. His other early major Nintendo programming works includes Kirby's Dreamland, Earthbound, and Pokémon Stadium. In May 2002, Iwata succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi as the president of Nintendo and was the first president not related to the Yamauchi family. Iwata served 13 years as president until his death on July 11, 2015 due to a Bile Duct Tumor, having the shortest term as president Nintendo.
During his tenure as president, Iwata helped to push the Fire Emblem series into the west due to the popularity and interest of Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and the popularity of Intelligent Systems' other tactical role-play game, Advance Wars. Iwata served as the Executive Producer of Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, The Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery of the Emblem, Awakening, and Fates.