Former Nintendo President passes away
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Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was the third president of Nintendo from 1949 until 2002, has died at age 85 on Sept. 19, 2013 at the hospital after suffering complications of pneumonia.
Nintendo announced that they were mourning his death. He is survived by his wife, Michino Inaba. Yamauchi was the president of Nintendo from 1949 until he stepped down in 2002.
Yamauchi took over as a president of Nintendo after his grandfather suffered a stroke and died later in 1949. Yamauchi was a known product of gambling, poker and later console manufacturing. He stepped down as President in 2002 and was succeeded by current Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. He continued to work on the board until June 29, 2005.
Yamauchi was known as an icon of the company during his days a president and was famously product of gamblings and home console from he produced the console as president include Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube. He also became the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team in 1992, which is now managed by former Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln.
As of March 2012, Yamauchi was the 12th richest person in Japan and 491st richest in the world, having a net worth of approximately $2.5 billion.