Mario Segale, Inspiration For Super Mario, Dies At Age 84

TUKWILA, WA - The man who inspired the most famous video game character in history has died. Mario A. Segale died Oct. 27 at age 84, according to his obituary.

Despite his fame, Segale's family wants the public to remember his struggle and success, rising from the son of Italian immigrant farmers to become a local construction and property magnate.

Segale was born on April 30, 1934, in Seattle. He was raised south of Seattle, graduating in 1952 from Highline High School. Five years later, Segale started a construction company after buying a single dump truck, according to his obituary.

He eventually established the Segale Business Park in Tukwila, and one of his tenants was Nintendo. Legend has it that Segale stormed into Nintendo's office demanding back rent. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto was working on "Donkey Kong" at the time and needed better names for his characters. A character originally called "Jumpman" became Super Mario.

The rest is video game history.

Segale later sold that park. He also invested in agricultural lands in Eastern Washington, some of which is used for vineyards.

"Although he took little time away from work, Mario loved hunting, fishing, his airplane, a good joke, the color red, great Italian food (with no cheese!), an excellent cigar and his view of Puget Sound," his obituary reads.

You can wish Segale well via the online guestbook marlattfuneralhome.com. Donations can be made to Catholic Community Services of King County at https://www.ccsww.org, Fred Hutch Cancer Research at https://www.fredhutch.org/donate, or any other local charity.

Caption: Mario attends the Bloomingdale's launch of an exclusive collection with Nintendo on March 8, 2018.

Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Bloomingdale's