On January 16th, the official website of talent agency Aoni Production announced that the venerated voice actor, Chikao Otsuka, passed away the previous day on January 15th at 85 years old.

The voice actor known for his roles as One Piece‘s Gol D. Roger, GeGeGe no Kitaro‘s Rat Man, Dragon Ball‘s Mercenary Tao, Wacky Races‘ Japanese dub of Dick Dastardly, and many more, passed away due to ischemic (coronary) heart failure.

Chikao Otsuka was a very well-known voice actor, especially in Japan, having been featured in anime series, radio broadcasts, puppet shows, games and as the Japanese voice to many foreign television series and movies’ lead roles. Otsuka also received a prize for his work as a Voice Actor during the 2014 Tokyo Anime Awards.

He is survived by his son, Akio Otsuka, also a very accomplished voice actor, who is known for his role as Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard) in One Piece.

Source: Yahoo News