Takeshi Aono passed away.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-04-09/voice-actor-takeshi-aono-passes-away

Colonel Campbell has left us...

Takeshi Aono

Best known role is probably Piccolo of Dragon Ball.

Apart from Piccolo and Axel Thurston, I don't know any of his roles.

King Piccolo,to be exact(and Kami). He was also Tenchi's father and grandfather in Tenchi Muyo series,Dr.Wily in Megaman games(and Isoc in Megaman X6,which was one of the reasons of the huge WMG behind the character),Gen-Fu in Dead or Alive games(and replaced by Chikao Ohtsuka after he suffered a stroke that forced him to stop working until his death...),Toshio Komura in Clannad,The Joker in Batman Animated Series

he sure was cool old guy who I going to miss a lot...

Snake: Colonel, do you copy? Colonel?! COLONEEEEEEELLLLLLL!!!!!

-sniff-

So long Piccolo. You did a good job protecting the earth.

Rest in peace good sir.

I wiggle my eyebrows in salutation, good sir. Shall your name never be forgotten. Rest in peace.

Bookman… Muramasa… Mihawk… I never realized they were the same guy…

Requiscat In Pace.

There is time for tears. That, is now....

as an interesting trivia,besides Colonel Campbell,both Paul Eiding and Takeshi Aono also shared another role as Muramasa in Ninja Gaiden 2/Sigma 2(with Paul Eiding darring'd Michael Bell from the first game.Paul Eiding reprised the role in the recent Ninja Gaiden 3,but Takeshi Aono got darring'd now due to the stroke that made him retire 2 years ago.)

some homages to him were made on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn8foe1wXh8 (the end of the video was truly a Tear Jerking since "Thank you,Snake" was his final line as Campbell in the series...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0POWY9U7DU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVoTinnnfRY&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kRW6mFz6e4&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF-OceOnOuA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1DTLGhwu7M

he deserves that and much more.

It's always sad to hear about a VA/seiyuu pass away. This is no exception.

yeah,we've lost too many voice-actors with that cool/evil/badass old man voice lately,I think the only ones left alive and active now are Osamu Saka and Chikao Ohtsuka(at least,the ones I can remember now). another sad thing is seeing how many Japanese voice-actors involved with Metal Gear Solid games have died already.We have lost:

Kaneto Shiozawa(Gray Fox.Also Rei in Fist of The North Star and Zato-1 in Guilty Gear)

Kazuyuki Sogabe(Psycho Mantis.Also Gemini Saga/Kanon in Saint Seiya)

Kouji Totani(Revolver Ocelot.Also Jagi in Fist of The North Star and Leon in Dead or Alive games)

Kazumi Tanaka(The Fear.Also Jeice in Dragon Ball Z and Miyo Takano's grandfather in Higurashi)

Daisuke Gouri(Scott Dolph in MGS 2 and Cunningham in Portable Ops.)

and now Takeshi Aono(Roy Campbell,and also Granin in MGS 3 and a minor role as the Secretary of Defense in Peace Walker)

considering how Kojima respects the voice-actors,we will probably never see Campbell again in the MGS games(though there wouldn't be any reason to see him again in Revengeance or any other future game,anyway,since his character was pretty much wrapped up in MGS 4)

And Norio Wakamoto is still alive as well. Barring that, there's also Hidekatsu Shibata, Kenichi Ogata... but regardless, yeah. We're running short of old men seiyuus.

As well as the possibility that even younger ones biting the dust earlier, like Tomoko Kawakami.

We all know Wakamoto-sama is God.

But what about when he needs to leave us?