Anyone's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
-- John Donne
Note: This page is under construction. If you know of any games industry people who have passed away and would like to see them memorialized here (from any country, any discipline or role from finance and operations to QA and administration, not just product development), please email me with the text you'd like to suggest at ddaglow via gmail dot com. If you see any errors here please use the same contact address. Please scroll to the bottom of the list for more information.
Many thanks to Ethan Johnson and Alex Smith for the work they have each done to preserve the memory of members of our craft, and for their generous sharing of information with me.
* * * * *
The quote at the top of this page is very personal to me, in part because I was named after John Donne and my mother taught me the poem -- and its meaning -- when I was very young.
Those of us who have been involved in building the games industry over the last 50 years may often be competitors, but we have many other relationships. We are fellow artists, friendly rivals and co-creators of an entirely new artistic medium.
The loss of any member of our craft diminishes us. We need to honor the past and preserve their work so that their legacy is never lost. And we need to honor the future by training and mentoring new practitioners of our art form and members of our community.
(People with maiden/married names etc. are listed under both variants, if known)
A
Adam Adamowicz,, 2015, Fallout concept artist
Douglas Adams, 2001, author and collaborator on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game
Claudia Adams-Esgrow, 2016, community manager for multiple major franchises
Bogdan Akh, 2018, Swedish pro esports gamer
Mel Allen, 1996, Hall of Fame Baseball announcer who did play by play on Old Time Baseball
Paul Allen, 2018, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist
Aaron Allston, 2014, designer and writer on Ultima and Wing Commander franchises
Martin Alper, 2015, Mastertronic co-founder and former CEO of Virgin Interactive
Nobuaki Andou, 2018, NES emulator developer
Python Anghelo, 2014, designer on Joust and other pinball and coin-op titles
Noah Anglin, 2017, early Atari engineering exec
Hidehito Aoki, 2002, creator of music and sound effects for many major Japanese games
Takanori Arisawa, 2005, composer for Sailor Moon and Digimon shows and games
Dave Arneson, 2009, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons
Steve Ash, 2019, programmer on modern versions of Doom, Quake and Double Fine games
Ed Auer, 2010, CBS and Broderbund executive
Alfonso Azpiri, 2017, Spanish game box & comics artist whose work was adapted into games
B
Ralph Baer, 2014, designer of the first video game console for Magnavox
John "TotalBiscuit" Bain, 2018, YouTube games streamer and influencer
Steve Bak, 2019, programmer who pioneered effects on the Atari ST
Richard Baker, 2011, AMD European sales exec who supported the games industry
Don Barnes, 2011, artist who worked on Madden NFL and Call of Duty: Black Ops
Lee Barnes, 2019, programmer for Intellivision at Mattel and pioneering disabled game dev
Erik Bauersfeld, 2016, voice of Admiral Ackbar in films and in Star Wars: X-Wing game
Mark Beaumont, 2010, executive at Atari, Activision, Midway and Capcom
Charles Bellfield, 2013, Sega exec who led the launch of the Dreamcast
Mary Kay Bergman, 1999, did VO for 5 characters in Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace
Dani Bunten (Berry), 1998, pioneering designer of M.U.L.E. and early co-op network games
Tim Best, 2008, Last Ninja Designer for System 3/Studio 3
Patrick Béthune, 2017, voice actor on a long list of games in both English and French
Bob Bishop, 2014, early Apple II game programmer
Jeremy Blake, 2007, artist who also worked on Chop Suey and other CD games for girls
Maddie Blaustein, 2008, voice actor on cartoons and games
"CCP Blaze", 2017, Eve Online Audio & Graphics team member
Tony Bourne, 2014, leader of SCEE QA department in the UK
Pete Bouvier, 2017, former owner of Twin Galaxies
David Bowie, 2016, did VO, songs & design input for Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Skye Boyes, 2015, founder of XGen Studios
Andrew Bradfield, 2001, Atari programmer and creator of Laser Hawk
Mark Bradlee, 2017, Atari, Imagic, and Worlds of Wonder executive
Hans-Jürgen Brändle, 2005. co-founder of Attic Entertainment in Germany
Ryan Brant, 2019, founder and first CEO of Take Two
Jesse Bright, 2015, programmer at Ensemble & Hidden Path Entertainment
Cathy Carlston (Brisbois), 1995, Broderbund co-founder
Steve Bristow, 2015, Atari Coin-op pioneer
Peter Bromley, 2016, co-founder of Mayfair Games
Alexander Brüggemann, 2013, game designer on The Settlers series and other titles
Rachel Bryk, 2015, Dolphin Emulator developer
David Bunch, 2019, programmer on early EA Sports titles who also worked at Bandai Namco
David Bunnett, 2013, art director for films (Dragonslayer) and games (Neverwinter Nights)
Dani Bunten (Berry), 1998, pioneering designer of M.U.L.E. and early co-op network games
Brigitte Burdine, 2010, voice casting director on God of War II and World of Warcraft
Jim Butterfield, 2007, pioneering 1970's and 80's programmer and master of 6502
C
Allan Calhamer, 2013, designer of the classic board game Diplomacy
Martin "Bucky" Cameron, 2018, LucasArts and Totally Games artist
Keith Campbell, 2006, pioneering UK games journalist and adventure games expert
Cathy Carlston (Brisbois), 1995, Broderbund co-founder
Tomi Pierce (Carlston), 2010, Broderbund game designer and writer on The Last Express
David "Sarge" Carter, 2018, animator on H1Z1
Scott Carter, 2007, EA engineer on Medal of Honor: Airborne
Bruce Carver, 2005, founder of Access Software
David Chandler, 2011, Mattel engineering exec and "father of the Intellivision"
Richard Chang, 2010, led handheld games at Mattel Electronics
Tom Clancy, 2013, author who collaborated with Ubisoft on many game titles
J. Brian Clarke, 2006, COO of Coleco during introduction and success of Colecovision
Leland Cook, 2009, co-founder of coin-op distributor Tradewest
Normand Corbeil, 2013, composer on Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy
Les Crane, 2008, Mindscape executive (and AM radio talk show pioneer)
Wes Craven, 2015, director, worked on the never-completed game Wes Craven's Principles of Fear
Bill Cravens, 2007, executive at Cinematronics, Universal, Nintendo, Capcom
Michael Crichton, 2008, Jurassic Park creator, also wrote the text for the 1984 game Amazon
Matthew Crump, 2014, designer on Ultima and Spyro franchises, ran the SXSW Gaming Exp
D
Ted Dabney, 2018, co-founder of Atari
Ben Daglish, 2018, composer on titles for C64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum & Amstrad CPC
Manabu Daishima, 2016, veteran artist and designer at Square Enix
Joanne Dal Porto Nerli, 2018, early team member at EA
Ryan Davis, 2013, Giant Bomb co-founder
Bernie DeKoven, 2018, veteran game designer
David DeMartini, 2016, EA producer and executive
Paul De Meo, 2018, game and film writer & producer, often teamed with Danny Bilson
Barry Dennen, 2017, voice actor on multiple major franchises
Dale DeSharone (Disharoon), 2008, created early C64 titles, worked on Zelda projects
Joe Dever, 2016, Lone Wolf game books author who helped adapt them for mobile
Rick Dickinson, 2018, pioneering UK games hardware designer at Sinclair Research
Thomas M. Disch, 2008, award-winning novelist/screenwriter, wrote 1987 game Amnesia
Dale DeSharone (Disharoon), 2008, created early C64 titles, worked on Zelda projects
Priyesh Dixit, 2016, Indian game developer who also worked in the U.S.
Michael Clarke Duncan, 2012, actor who did VO on many games, including God of War II
Theresa Duncan, 2007, co-creator of Chop Suey and other early CD-based games for girls
Eric Dybsand, 2004, respected AI programmer
E
Ronnie “Oni” Edwards, 2018, Game Theorists YouTube video editor
Harlan Ellison, 2018, sf writer, worked on game I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Wayne England, 2016, prominent board and card-based game artist
Carolyn Enlow, 2018, first (or close to it) female programmer at Sierra Online in early 80's
Kenji Eno, 2013, Japanese musician and game designer
Christopher Erhardt, 2012, game designer and teacher who worked on Pool of Radiance
R. Lee Ermey, 2018, actor, recorded Drill Instructor Voice Pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts
Claudia Adams-Esgrow, 2016, community manager for multiple major franchises
F
Neil Falconer, 2012, 1980's and 90's pinball game designer
Carrie Fisher, 2016, actress, did VO on Dishonored and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Andrew Fitch, 2018, veteran game journalist at EGM, 1up
Frank Fitzner, 2016, co-founder of Nuclearvision Entertainment in Germany
Michael Forgey, 2016, exec producer on Shadow of War
Jay Forrester, 2016, pioneer of real-time computing
Miika Forsell, 2003. developer on the Max Payne team
Simon Franco, 2014, developer at Creative Assembly in the UK
Anita Hamil Frazier, 2019, long-time NPD and Vivendi Marketing exec
David Freeman, 2014, sales executive at Activision Blizzard
Jeff Freeman, 2008, game designer who worked on Ultima Online and Star Wards Galaxies
Jim French, 2017, voice actor who played Bill on Left 4 Dead
Tsutomu Fujisawa, 1998, prominent Japanese game developer
Brad Fuller, 2016, composer for Marble Madness, Tetris and other games
G
Stu Galley, 2018, Infocom systems engineer and writer for The Witness
Corey Gaspur, 2017, Bioware Lead Game Designer
Laura "Taera" Genender, 2008, Associate Community Manager on Eve Online
Michael Gershman, 2000, historical advisor on Old Time Baseball
Armin Gessert, 2009, programmer and co-founder of Spellbound Entertainment
H. R. Giger, 2014, artist on Alien series and other films that became games
Leo Goshgarian, 2019, sales exec at Spectrum Holobyte and Mattel
Edd Gould, 2012, creator of Eddsworld videos and flash games
Daisuke Gouri, 2010, voice actor on many Japanese games
Curt Gowdy, 2006, Hall of Fame Baseball announcer who did play by play on Old Time Baseball
Hank Greenwald, 2018, baseball announcer on Tony La Russa Baseball
Kim Gregson, 2014, professor at Ithaca College, built their games program
Kevin Kanai Griffith, 2015, long-time Blizzard artist
Robert Guillaume, 2017, TV actor who did VO for scientist Eli Vance in Half Life 2
Gary Gygax, 2008, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons
H
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, 2008, engineer on Metroid Prime and Shadows of the Empire
Hugh Hancock, 2017, Machinima founder
Kentarō Haneda, 2007, composer of music for early 1980's NES games
Goro Hasegawa, 2016, creator of Othello board game
Dennis Hawelka, 2017, early esports star
Steve Henifin, 2019, composer on Metal Gear Solid titles, Too Human and other gams
William Higinbotham, 1994, creator of seminal 1958 computer game Tennis for Two
John Hill, 2015, designer of influential board game Squad Leader
Stewart Hogarth, 2015, Scottish game developer
Grace Hopper, 1992, pioneer of compilers and high-level programming languages
Stephen Hornback, 2016, game artist on Duke Nukem and other franchses
Walter Huang, 2018, long-time Visceral Games engineer at EA
I
Hiro Isono, 2013, artist on Secret of Mana and other Square Enix games
Satoru Iwata, 2015, President and CEO of Nintendo
J
Steve Jobs, 2011, Apple co-founder
Clarence Johnson, 2016, LucasArts artist
Richard Joseph, 2007, Long-time Audio Dir. -- Defender of the Crown, Elder Scrolls IV
K
Antti Kallioinen, 2016, veteran game artist and studio founder
Hiroshi Kajiyama, 2018, game designer, illustrator and manga artist
Harry Kane, 2016, former Sega of America President
Yoshinori Kaneda, 2009, anime animator who also worked on Final Fantasy games
Pat Karns, 2010, executive at Atari, Fun Games, and Sega
Saki Kaskas, 2016, composer on Need for Speed titles, Sim City 4, Mass Effect 2
Jasmin Kass, 2018, German game producer and musician
Ray Kassar, 2017, late 1970's CEO of Atari
Joyce Worley (Katz), 2016, pioneering video game magazine founder and editor
Pete Kauffman, 2015, founder of coin-op company Exidy
Eri Kawai, 2008, recording artist; she also appeared on game soundtracks
Saga Kazami, 2007, games and anime composer
Norm Kelln, 2018, early Nintendo team member
Jim Kimsey, 2016, founding CEO of AOL
Kouki Kita, 2017, former SunSoft game artist
Jim Kitchen, 2015, indie dev who produced accessible games for blind gamers
Michael Kogan, 1984, founder of Taito Corporation
Steve Kordek, 2012, pinball game designer who popularized bottom flippers
Stewart Kosoy, 2015, veteran game designer and producer
Shiro Kotobuki, 2016, Japanese game artist
Alan Kotok, 2006, member of the dev team on Spacewar
Colin Kroll, 2018, co-founder of HQ Trivia
Kim Okkerstrøm (Kimberly Kubus), 2014, Norwegian artist and game developer
Michael Kuehl, 2012, programmer at Insomniac, Infinity Ward and Electronic Arts
Bill Kunkel, 2011, co-founder of Electronic Games Magazine and pioneering journalist
L
Adam Lancman, 2005, Australian developer, executive and GDAA President
Greg Lastowka, 2015, Rutgers law professor focused on legal issues of online games
Jerry Lawson, 2011, African American games pioneer, invented cartridge-based consoles
Charles Lazarus, 2018, Founder of Toys R Us
Stan Lee, 2018, Marvel comics creator whose characters appeared in many games
Anthony Lees, 2016, co-composer of the must on the Last Ninja series
Dick Lehrberg, 2015, executive at Activision and Interplay
Lance Lewis, 2018, veteran of Atari and 3DO
Daniel Licht, 2017, game composer on Dishonored and Silent Hill
Russell Lieblich, 2005, programmer and composer for Intellivision, Activision and LucasArts
Marian Lorenz, 1992, co-author of Atari Assembly Language Programmer's Guide
Bud Luckey, 2018, legendary Pixar animator who did VO for Disney Infinity
Søren Lund, 2018, veteran Danish developer who worked on Hitman, Watchmen & more
Mickey Lynch, 2017, early team member at Atari
M
Jim Mackonochie, 2015, co-founder of Mirrorsoft, flight sim pioneer
Jennifer Majalca, 2014, Nintendo and Sega PR veteran
Dave Marofske, 2014, president Midway Manufacturing
Greg Martin, 2014, cover designer for the original Sonic and other titles
Masato Masuda, 2014, creator of Fire Pro Wrestling
Andy Mathews, 2008, art director at Hero Games
Miyu Matsuki, 2015, actress on many games, including the voice of Lailah in Tales of Zestiria
Gene Mauro, 2018, international games exec who worked on a diverse range of titles
Dwayne McDuffie, 2011, pioneering African American comics. TV and video games writer
Charles McEwan, 2006, co-founder of Ramtek
Fergus McGovern, 2016, early UK games entrepreneur and founder of Probe and Hotgen
Seumas McNally, 2000, 3D graphics designer
Alan McNeil, 2017, creator of Berzerk
Ralph McQuarrie, 2012, designed Darth Vader and much of Star Wars, influenced many games
Eric Medalle, 2016, design director at The Pokémon Company
Ken Melville, 2014, co-founder of Digital Pictures
John Metzler, 1982, game designer at Ramtek
Joe Miller, 2014, long-time Sega games producer and exec
Jay Miner, 1994, co-creator of Atari VCS, Atari 400/800, Amiga
Dave Mirra, 2016, BMX star who collaborated on Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX
Takeo Miratsu, 2002, composer for both video games and anime
Fukio Mitsuji, 2008, creator of Bubble Bobble and other Taito coinop games
Jack Mittel, 2016, former Taito of America executive
Ben Mittman, 2018, pioneer of AI vs. AI computer chess championships
Hiroshi Miyagawa, 2006, film and game composer
Takeshi Miyaji, 2011, co-founder of Game Arts and G-Mode
Shoji Mizuno, 2018, character designer for the Bomberman franchise
Jay Moon, 2018, co-founder of Iguana Entertainment
Roger Hanna Morash, 2018, game programmer at Harmonix
Steve Morgenstern, 2013, pioneering journalist and founding editor of Atari Age magazine
Akihiko Mori, 1996, sound designer on many Japanese video games
Paul Moriarty, 2016, former Taito of America executive
David Morse, 2007, exec at Amiga, Epyx, Crystal Dynamics
Kerri Moynihan, 2017, finance team member at Activision
Patrick Munnik, 2019, Horizon Zero Dawn lead producer
N
Hideyuki Nakajima, 1994, executive at Namco, Atari Games
Masaya Nakamura, 2017, founder of coin-op pioneer Namco
Dave Needle, 2016, co-creator of Amiga 1000
Nels Nelson, 2017, games and systems designer at Certain Affinity
Joanne Dal Porto Nerli, 2018, early team member at EA
Shinya Nishigaki, 2004, creator of Dreamcast titles Blue Stinger and Illbleed
Jim Nitchals, 1998, pioneering Apple programmer and game developer
Ingo Nugel, 2007, German game music composer
Bill Nutting, 2008, founder of Nutting Assoc., released first arcade video game
O
Markus Oberrauter, 2019, programmer on the Söldner and Settlers series among other games
Chris Oberth, 2012, programmer for Stern Electronics, Epyx, Mindscape, Incredible Technologies
William O’Connor, 2018, White Wolf artist whose work appeared in Vampire: The Masquerade
Shinobu Ogawa, 2008, video game composer
Norio Ohga, 2011, Founder of Sony Computer Entertainment
Isao Okawa, 2001, founder of CSK Corp., chairman and CEO of Sega Enterprises
Kim Okkerstrøm (Kimberly Kubus), 2014, Norwegian artist and game developer
Bill Olliges, 2018, co-founder of coin-op developer Universal Research Laboratory (URL)
Wesley Warren Olson, 2017, tester at Ember, Bungie and Snowblind
Andy O'Neil, 2019, Metroid Prime tech lead and Bluepoint Games co-founder
John Opel, 2011, president of IBM during the birth of the personal computer
George Opperman, 1985, Atari art director who designed Atari logo and early coin-op cabinets
Monty Oum, 2015, game designer and animator for machinima series Red vs. Blue
Norman Ovando, 2017, former Treyarch dev team member
P
Randy Pausch, 2008, Carnegie Mellon games program professor and author of "The Last Lecture"
Bill Paxton, 2017, prominent actor who did VO on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Paul Pepera, 2017, video game artist and System Era co-founder
Eric Peterson, 2015, lead programmer on MechWarrior 2 and other major games
Scott 'Hjalmer' Peterson, 1989, author of the Amiga shareware game GravAttack
Tom Petit, 2017, sales exec at Sega, Data East and Nintendo
Tomi Pierce (Carlston), 2010, Broderbund game designer and writer on The Last Express
Peter Pirner, 1996, Marketing VP for Mattel Electronics in the late 1970's and early 80's
Gene Portwood, 2000, artist and co-designer of the Carmen Sandiego series at Broderbund
Terry Pratchett, 2015, author of the hit Discworld novels, which were also adapted as games
Micael Priest, 2018, renowned poster artist who did original art for Ultima Online
Prince, 2016, collaborated on the 1994 PC & Mac adventure game, Prince Interactive
Jory Prum, 2016, Norwegian audio designer
R
Julian Paul Raines, 2018, former GameStop CEO
Peter Rezon, 2018, UK games exec for Leisuresoft, Sierra and Vivendi
Lee Reherman, 2016, appeared on games network G4 TV
Dennis Ritchie, 2011, creator of C programming language (among others)
Joe Robbins, 2006, executive at Bally, Atari, Kitcorp, and Sunsoft America
Ed Roberts, 2010, creator of the first home computer, the Altair 8800
Keith Robinson, 2017, Intellivision game developer and co-founder of Intellivision Lives
Paul Robinson, 2017, game designer and writer
Jeff Rochlis, 2016, Mattel electronics exec in the early 1980's
Tony Rosato, 2017, the voice of Mario on Super Mario Bros. 3
David Rosenbaum, 2017, Video Game Bar Assoc. co-founder, attorney for developers
John Roy, 2014, Sony Online Entertainment art director
Christopher Rush, 2016, Magic: The Gathering artist who also worked at Nintendo
S
Chloe Sagal, 2018, Portland indie game developer
Akira Saitō, 2016, games programmer at M2 Co. in Japan
Manabu Saito, 1992, game composer who passed away shortly after starting his career
Tomoharu Saito, 2006, Japanese game character designer
Tohru Sakurai, 2017, Arcana Heart writer and developer
Jean Sammet. 2017, first female president of ACM, pioneer of high-level programming languages
Norman Sas, 2012, inventor of Electric Football motorized tabletop game in the late 1940's
Stan Schembri, 2009, Late 80's C64 programmer on Barbarian, Rad Warrior, Cauldron II
Bill 'Phosphorous' Sears, 2012, engineer at Realtime Associates, KnowWonder and GameHouse
SeeD, 2009, art director for the Pangya golf game series
Mario Segale, 2018, landlord for Nintendo's old warehouse, after whom Mario was named
Doris Self, 2006, coin-op game score record holder and pioneering female gamer
Peter Shelus, 2015, programmer on Wing Commander, Deus X, Thief and Epic Mickey
Mike Sherlock, 2018, Square Enix COO for Europe and America
Hidenori Shibao, 2018 artist/writer/director for Paladin’s Quest & Legend of Legaia
Wayne Shirk, 2010, early employee at Nintendo of America
Ken Siders, 2017, programmer on several Atari games
Lon Simmons, 2015, Hall of Fame Baseball announcer who did play by play on Old Time Baseball
Mike Singleton, 2012, prominent UK game designer
Joe Skivolocke, 2012, veteran Austin game artist
Claire Smith, 2015, programmer at Bioware Austin
Doug Smith, 2014, creator of Lode Runner
Gene Smith, 2002, game programmer at Intellivision, Atari and Accolade
Jonathan "Joffa" Smith, 2010, prolific game programmer at Ocean Software
Stephen Wrenn Smith, 2019, designer and programmer of Atari 2600 Road Duel
Randy Solem, 2012, machinima animator and creator of Video Game Director's Cuts
Art Spear, 1996, chairman of Mattel during the invention of handheld games and Intellivision
Greg Stafford, 2018, RPG designer and founder of Chaosium
Paul Steed, 2012, veteran game artist, author and teacher (Wing Commander, Doom 2 and more)
Alan Stone, 2017, co-founder of Nintendo of America
James Storey, 2015, artist on Duke Nukem and other titles
Tim Stryker, 1996, pioneering 1970's game developer
Matt Stubbington, 2011, art director at Iguana Entertainment
Jonathan Sullivan, 2017, game developer on Madden NFL and other titles
Brian Sutton-Smith, 2015, researcher on games and play
Dave Szulborski, 2009, alternate reality game designer, author of book This is Not a Game
T
Hiroki Takagi, 2018, anime and game animator
Jukka Tapanimaki, 2000, 1980's programmer on Moonfall, Zamzara and other games
Chris Taylor, 2016, young UK designer at Traveller's Tales who worked on Lego titles
Robert Taylor, 2017, creator of ARPANET, which set tech standards for Internet
John Tessin, 2017, long-time programmer on Everquest II and other titles
Heather Thompson, 2011, veteran game producer and product manager
Stephen Toulouse, 2017, Xbox Live community exec
Will Townsend, 2011, producer on DJ Hero
Jack Tramiel, 2012, former Commodore CEO
Francis Tsai, 2015, artist on the Myst and Tomb Raider franchises
David Tse, 2017, VR game developer in San Antonio
Hiromi Tsuru, 2017, voice actress in Metal Gear Solid
Richard Tucholka, 2017, RPG designer whose titles were adapted for PC
Alan Turing, 1954, mathematician & innovator, helped lay foundation for Computer Science and AI
Kelly Turner, 2005, long-time game producer
U
Mick Uhl, 2019, Avalon Hill board game designer who also worked on multiple versions of Civ II
V
Mark 'Chip' VanDeVelde, 2006, sales exec at Crave Entertainment
Jan Paul van Waveren, 2017, engineer on many id titles
Fernando Velez, 2016, VD-Dev Games co-founder
Mark Vitiello, 2019, long-time Sony PlayStation manager and 3rd party liaison
W
Carl Wade, 2011, veteran engineer at Acclaim and CD Projekt Red
Ray Wagner, 1985, president of Mattel Toys at the time of the birth of handheld games there
John Wakefield, 2009, early president pf Atari
Bob Wakelin, 2018, British video game cover artist
Maegan Walling, 2018, Sr. Character Artist on EA LOTR games, FEAR 2, Matrix Online
Silas Warner, 2004, PLATO programmer, creator of Castle Wolfenstein and Robot Wars
Joe Waters, 2015, veteran programmer at Monolith, Hidden Path and other studios
Earl Weaver, 2013, baseball manager who collaborated on Earl Weaver Baseball
Adam West, 2017, 1960's Batman actor who did VO on Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Joel West, 2018, early-1980's coin-op champion featured in Life magazine in 1981
Stewart Wieck, 2017, co-founder of White Wolf Games
Bill Williams, 1998, early 1980's game designer
Dan Winters, 2018, long-time producer and exec with EA, Disney, Activision & Amazon
Loren Wiseman, 2017, co-founder of Game Designers Workshop
Paul Woakes, 2017, late 1980's programmer on Mercenary series and other titles
Marcine "Iggy" Wolverton, 1997, co-founder of Midway Manufacturing
Brian Wood, 2010, Company of Heroes Lead Game Designer
Joyce Worley (Katz), 2016, pioneering video game magazine founder and editor
Y
Hiroshi Yamauchi, 2013, former President of Nintendo and architect of its video game success
Gregory Yob, 2005, pioneering mainframe game designer, creator of Hunt the Wumpus
Gunpei Yokoi, 1997, creator of Game Boy
* * * * *
Although this list is intended to include video game industry team members I have selectively included highly influential board game designers and entrepreneurs (e.g. Dave Arneson, Peter Bromley, Gary Gygax, John Hill and Loren Wiseman) and computer scientists (e.g. Grace Hopper, Dennis Ritchie, Jean Sammet, Alan Turing) in recognition of their influence on our field.
Anyone who worked at a game publisher or developer is included if I know of their passing, regardless of their job title or department. If someone's work was licensed or adapted for a game and they did not work on the project(s) themselves apart from approvals I have not included them here. Rather than define lines of "who's a game developer and who isn't," I have included all licensor-creators who worked with the team in any role, including voice actors, writers of adapted works who worked directly on the game with the team (e.g. Michael Crichton, Thomas M. Disch, Harlan Ellison) etc.
If you use this research please link to and credit this page so we can help everyone be remembered, not just the more famous people who have worked in games.