Doing some digging, Peter Moore is 60, Kaz Hirai is the same age as Iwata 55-ish. Phil Spencer is 45 and I can't find Yoshidas age.

EarthBound creator Shigesato Itoi on Iwata’s passing

“No matter the farewell, I think the most appropriate thing to say is “we”ll meet again.” We are friends so we”ll see each other again. There is nothing strange about saying it. Yeah. We’ll meet again.



Even if you didn’t have the chance to put into words how sudden it was going to be, how far you’d be traveling, or how you went much earlier than expected, I know you went wearing your best.



You always put yourself second to others no matter what, helping anyone who needed it whenever they needed it. You were that kind of friend. Although you may have been a little selfish for the first time ever by taking this journey.



The truth is though that I still don’t believe any of it. I feel like I am going to receive a message from you inviting me out to eat at any moment. I wouldn’t mind if you were to ask me like always if I had some free time. If you did, I’d ask you as well.



Still, “we’ll meet again.” It would be great to hear from you whenever and wherever; I’ll being calling to you too. I’ll call if I have something to discuss or I want to tell you a great new idea I’ve had.



We’ll meet again.



Then again, you’re here with me now.”

Fan art

Mario at the back.

From GAF:

The bile duct cancer survival rates are scarily low. I guess he must have known from the beginning, but continued to work in order to make sure Nintendo's immediate future was secure and well defined going forward. If it's any comfort, we will definitely be feeling the legacy of Iwata directly for many years to come. Whether it's through hardware he himself personally had a hand in or the development philosophy he has instilled in Nintendo. That's some legendary stuff right there.

Patients whose tumor is caught early and in bile ducts within the liver have a 15 percent chance of surviving the disease for at least five years, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. If the cancer has spread to the regional lymph nodes, the survival rate is 6 percent and drops to 2 percent if the cancer has spread to a distant part of the body.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...re-cancer-type

So he knew he was dying and stayed working all the same for the company.

The fan art is so sad.

The stuff I keep reading about him and how he was is amazing. }

There's a wonderful story about him patrolling the shop floor at Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters prior to the Wii U's release, being shown the line-up for the console's impending launch in his role as the company's president. He paused on Balloon Trip Breeze, a mini-game within Nintendo Land which paid tribute to Balloon Fight, the 1984 game on which Iwata acted as programmer. Noticing something wasn't quite right with the feel of the characters as they flapped their way across the screen, he astonished everyone present as he set about fixing it - the head of the company rolling his sleeves up and getting stuck into the code.

That's a clever story to include - the gamer that recognised how the control didn't feel right, the CEO who recognised the need to change the product, and the programmer that had the ability to do so.

Such a sad day indeed and seeing that fan art really brings tears to my eyes. The noticeable change in his appearance from the disease is staggering and terrible. That gif from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is perfectly fitting GG. Nice tribute there on the site's logo Yoda.

Nice job yoda.

Akuo made these.

KoreanDJ did a violin cover of Mario 64's credit music as tribute:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRD7tIl5vhg

Shuhei Yoshida

"I always admired his personal, easy to understand commentary on games in development in his Nintendo Direct. He was an inspiration as a leader of one of the most influential companies in the game industry, who used to make games himself and has always been a gamer. I had a couple of times I had conversations with him at some international industry events, he was always friendly and nice to talk with. I was dreaming someday to have an open exchange of Tweets or to be on a same panel session with him to talk about industry and games we play. I even tweeted when I was leaving for E3 this year with #iwatter as I saw he started tweeting Nintendo E3 news with the hashtag. I have always respected Nintendo's games, how they are super accessible and polished for everyone to play and enjoy, and I understand Iwata-san was one of the key individuals to have kept that high quality standard across all Nintendo titles. I just wish he will rest in peace. Thank you for all your work for the better game industry

Phil Spencer

"Honestly I wasn't a huge Nintendo gamer growing up. I grew up on Atari 2600 and PC games. When I entered the 'industry' and learned what it meant to build games, grow franchises and really become part of the industry is when I learned what why Nintendo was special. Iwata-san has been President of Nintendo really for as long as we've been in the Xbox business. I think it was GDC 2005 when he stated 'On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.' It's a quote I think about daily as I make decision for Xbox. Nintendo has defined excellence, longevity and self-confidence in their own vision. In the times I've met Iwata-san I always took away someone who believed in the 'why' behind the games and platforms they built. I think this was born out of the fact that he was a gamer at heart."