You may not know his name, but you lost a lot of quarters to his legendary game in the '80s.
Masaya Nakamura, who is known as the "Father of Pac-Man," died Jan. 22. Bandai Namco, the company he partially founded made the announcement Monday.
>> Read more trending news
Nakamura founded Namco with two mechanical horse rides on a department store rooftop, The Associated Press reported.
While Nakamura did not write the code for the popular game, he did come up with the name Pac, or pakku in Japanese. It represented the sound of Pac-Man eating the dots.
The game was actually designed by Namco engineer Toru Iwatani.
"Pac-Man is a gamer friendly game with tons of cute characters and that's why it was loved for such a long time," Iwatani said in 2015.
Namco didn't announce Nakamura's cause of death, citing his family's wishes. A private wake and funeral was held for his family, but a memorial is being planned, The AP reported.
Nakamura was 91.
About the Author
