The late director had been employed by Nintendo for nearly 45 years.
Nobuo Nagai, who served as Nintendo's manufacturing senior managing director and was with the company for 44 years, died on Sunday after a long battle with stomach cancer. He was 66 years old.
Nagai joined Nintendo in 1967, long before video gaming was the prime focus of the company and around the time of Nintendo's transition from a trading card company to one focused more on toys and entertainment. He was given his role as senior managing director in 2004. Among the board of directors at Nintendo, Nagai's employment was the longest.
Although he was usually seen as less visible than other senior members, Nagai was known to carry weight in hardware production at Nintendo's Uji plant in Kyoto. In an Iwata asks, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned that Nagai examined console designs before mass production. Specifically, when looking over the 3DS, Nagai remarked that "This time it's fully packed right from the start."
Regarding Nagai's passing, Nintendo put out the following statement:
"Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that Representative Director Nobuo Nagai (Senior Managing Director and General Manager, Manufacturing Division) passed away yesterday (January 22, 2012) and has retired as Director. Mr. Nagai's contribution to Nintendo was greatly appreciated and he will be deeply missed."
