Masaya Nakamura

Masaya Nakamura (December 24, 1925 - January 22, 2017) was a Japanese businessman and is best known for founding Namco, one of the biggest names in video games and the company behind Pac-Man, Xevious, Galaga, Dig Dug, Tekken and Ace Combat among many others. Nakamura is considered “The Father of Pac-Man” due to many business decisions that later lead to Pac-Man’s development.

Nakamura stepped down as Namco’s CEO in 2002, which would be three years before Bandai merged with them to form Bandai Namco. In 2007, Nakamura was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rossette for his huge contributions to the video game industry.

Nakamura passed away on January 22, 2017 at age 91 from natural causes, and was announced publicly by Bandai Namco in respect for his family. The company states that a public memorial service will be held for Nakamura.