April 23, 2011 04:53 pm EDT

Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81

There's more sad news out of Japan this morning, we're afraid -- Sony is reporting that former chairman Norio Ohga passed away in Tokyo yesterday from multiple organ failure. He was 81. You may not personally remember a Sony under his reign -- Ohga helmed the company from 1982 to 1995 -- but Norio Ohga was arguably the man responsible for turning Sony from a high-profile analog electronics manufacturer into a digital multimedia conglomerate. He helmed the deals that formed Sony Music, paved the way for Sony Pictures and established the very same Sony Computer Entertainment that would birth the PlayStation, and it was he who pushed the optical compact disc standard that all but replaced the magnetic cassettes and diskettes that held portable media, not to mention lit the way for the DVDs and Blu-ray discs that have since dominated the industry. You'll find his official obituary after the break.

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Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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