British music composer Ben Daglish died on Monday. He was 52.
He’s known for creating the soundtracks to many 1980s video games on the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC, including “Gauntlet,” “Trap,” “Deflektor,” and “The Last Ninja.”
Daglish was reportedly diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015. His wife, Sarah, confirmed his death in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
“For those of you who don’t already know I’m deeply sorry to pass on the news that Ben died very suddenly on Monday morning,” she said. “We know that it will come as a shock to many of you as it has to us. We are all at home feeling loved and supported, and our thoughts are with all of you who knew, loved, got irritated by and were lucky enough to have a little bit of his magic in your lives.”
Daglish lived in Derbyshire, England, and performed in a number of bands. He also regularly appeared at various retro computer game events. When not performing, he worked as a programmer writing network device backup software for network security company Restorepoint.
Many took time to pay tribute to Daglish on social media. “Our hearts go out to the family of Ben Daglish, famed composer of Commodore 64 games like ‘The Last Ninja,’ who passed away on Monday,” tweeted video game world records organization Twin Galaxies.
“The music and games world lost a rare talent this week,” wrote Leeds Beckett University senior lecturer in audio engineering Ben Mosley. “I had the privilege to work with Ben Daglish on a few occasions and the even greater privilege of being able to call him a friend. He will be hugely missed.”
“Sad to hear of Ben Daglish’s passing,” said fan Andre Nelson. “His music formed part of my childhood soundtrack, and his talent in composition and coding at machine level was legendary.”