Sony recently reported that its former president and chairman Norio Ohga died Saturday at 81 due to multiple organ failure.

Ohga had given up a career as an opera singer to join Sony in the 1950s and later led its expansion into movies and video games, presiding over the company’s entry into the home video game business, which it dominated with the PlayStation. He was Sony’s president from 1982 to 1995, succeeded by Nobuyuki Idei, and continued to serve as chairman and representative director until 2000. He was a senior adviser to the company at the time of his death.

He will surely be missed and remembered as a man who helped Sony evolve into the company it is today.