Bernie Stolar has passed away aged 75

Bernie Stolar has sadly passed away at the age of 75. The news of the former Sega of America president's passing broke over the last few days, and we thought it only right to mention it here on a Dreamcast-centric blog. Stolar was president of Sega of America from 1996 to 1999 and famously sat in the hotseat during the Dreamcast's formative years, before leaving the role to make way for Peter Moore.

Prior to working at Sega, Stolar was instrumental in the creation of Sony Computer Entertainment America, and later he worked for toy giant Mattel and then later gaming service ZOOM Platform alongside friend of the Junkyard Jordan Freeman (pictured below).

We were lucky enough to welcome Bernie to the Dreamcast Junkyard back in 2018 when he agreed to answer some of our questions about his time at Sega of America, the Dreamcast and - most importantly - his favourite Dreamcast games. Mentioning that Rush 2049 was one of his favourite games gave me a huge sense of vindication, waxing lyrical as I do about it being one of the finest games on the Dreamcast - if the former president of Sega of America and father of the Dreamcast agreed, that's good enough for me!

The sad news of Bernie Stolar's passing comes mere weeks after the news of former Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa's death in 2021, and this marks a very poignant time for fans of the Dreamcast. 

Our thoughts and best wishes go to Bernie's friends, family and colleagues.

4 comments:

Lewis Cox said...

Rest in peace 😔

DCGX said...

He will be missed, but never forgotten.

Tom Charnock said...

Indeed. Intrinsically linked with the Dreamcast legacy. Rest in peace, sir.

Alexpletives said...

Bernie Stolar? Well I hope he brought her back.