Video game pioneer Steve Bristow, an early Atari employee who contributed hugely to the company in its golden era, passed away this Sunday, Gamasutra has learned.

The news comes from Atari Inc. co-author Marty Goldberg, who shared it in a post on the Atari Museum Facebook group. 

Bristow was an early Atari employee who ascended its ranks on the back of important work such as conceptualizing early hit Breakout. Bristow oversaw Atari's Coin Engineering division and later became the VP of Engineering for its computer division before leaving the company in 1984, Goldberg writes. 

According to Goldberg, Bristow worked on Computer Space as an intern -- the world's first arcade game, co-created by Bushnell before the founding of Atari. 

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell recognized Bristow for his work on the team behind the design of the massively popular Atari 2600 console, in a post on Forbes.