Source: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2015/150713e.pdf A massive loss for Nintendo, and for video game creators and players worldwide.
This is pretty god damn sad to hear. I'm a nintendo guy, and I've always been a nintendo guy for the last oh 15 years of my life. We always had like all the consoles at a certain point except new ones when they became too expensive, and I won a wii through fundraising one year in school (it was like a year after the wii came out). This is a huge loss for Nintendo and probably their programming overall, I hear over the years he's done a lot for some troubles certain games have come across in terms of coding, compression, or making something work. They probably don't have to worry so much with how fast there are improvements and newer/better things so it's not as hard in our current times, but I guess you could call him a pathfinder for others to follow through with what he did. This sucks, and I hope they can continue going forward well with whomever the next CEO/president is, I still maintain loyalty to nintendo, and hope the best for them even with this loss.
On his Soundcloud page, Hirokazu "Chip" Tanaka released a new chiptunes track called simply "Dedicated to Satoru Iwata," and it's a breezy number that calls to mind some of Nintendo's best games, a number of which Iwata worked on as a programmer. In a wonderful touch, it's actually a remix of the theme from NES classic Balloon Fight; Iwata and Tanaka first met in 1983 while working on the game, and later were part of the same team on the cult role playing game Earthbound. Tanaka's tribute is part of a huge outpouring of support for Iwata, who in many ways embodied the very best of Nintendo. https://m.soundcloud.com/hip_tanaka/dedicated-to-satoru-iwata