Industry Passings: Masaya Nakamura (Namco); Marvin Yagoda; Dick Hawkins

There have been a few amusement/arcade industry deaths to occur this month, hopefully the families of those affected can find peace through the grieving process.

Masaya Nakamura – Various outlets are reporting that Namco founder Masaya Nakamura has died at the age of 91. The cause of death was not released by the family but Replay Magazine has some good history. It’s important to note that he founded and ran the company but a lot of the headlines that I am seeing are either implying or outright incorrect in stating that Mr. Nakamura was the creator of Pac-Man when that was Tori Iwatani (who was an employee of Namco at the time and is still alive). Here is a story via the BBC in case you are looking for more perspectives.

“Marvelous Marvin” Yagoda – I kept forgetting to mention this in a newsbytes, my apologies about that. The creator of Marvin’s Marvelous Museum in Farmington Hills, MI died earlier this month, as announced on the Museum’s Facebook page. The Detroit Free Press has a little history of the man who was known for being a little eccentric but quite the class act.

Dick “The Hawk” Hawkins – Also mentioned in the Replay article above is the passing of former AMOA president and Minnesota route operator Dick Hawkins. Replay notes that it was because of his ‘tangle’ with manufacturers in 1987 that made some changes that would end up bringing operators and manufacturers closer together. (Mr. Hawkins is on the right)

Rest In Peace gentlemen. I think it is safe to say that they all lived good lives 🙂