Arakawa was already under great pressure to succeed, and Segale "blasted him" in front of everyone, Sheff wrote. A flustered Arakawa vowed that Segale would get his money soon.

And as soon as he left, Sheff wrote, the team knew it had its name: "Mario!"

Mario had only a supporting role in Donkey Kong, but by the 1990s he had become Nintendo's beloved mascot and the star of Super Mario Bros., one of the most popular video game franchises to date. (He also changed professions, from carpentry to plumbing, when he got his own game.)

In a video published by Nintendo in 2015, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed with a simple nod of his head that Segale had inspired Mario's name.

Mario Arnold Segale was born in Seattle on April 30, 1934, to Louis and Rina Segale. An online obituary describes him as the only child of Italian immigrant farmers.

He started his company, M.A. Segale Inc., with a single dump truck, the obituary says. It became a major construction contractor in the Northwest. Segale also continued his parents' practice of buying land around Tukwila, and he established a business park there in the early 1970s.

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Segale sold the construction company in 1998 to concentrate on Segale Properties, the family's real estate business. The company also owns commercial properties in Seattle and agricultural land, including a vineyard, in eastern Washington.

The family is famously averse to speaking with the press. A 2010 Seattle Times article about a planned mixed-use project noted that Segale and his son, Mark, had not spoken with reporters since the 1990s. (The family did not speak with The Seattle Times for that article, and did not return calls from The New York Times on Friday.)

Along with his son, Segale is survived by his wife, Donna, whom he married in 1957; three daughters, Lisa Atkins, Tina Covey and Nita Johnson; and nine grandchildren.

His obituary acknowledged that Segale had been the inspiration for Super Mario's name but that he had "always ducked the notoriety and wanted to be known instead for what he accomplished in his life."

He did break his silence in 1993, shortly after the story of Mario's naming was published in Sheff's book. The Seattle Times asked Segale what he thought about his name being used in a game that was so hugely popular.

"You might say I'm still waiting for my royalty cheques," he said.

New York Times