Mario Segale

 was an American real-estate developer of retail malls and office buildings and landlord based in,. Born to Italian immigrants, he was the owner of the M.A. Segale construction company and was responsible for projects in the southern. Segale was known for being the namesake for Mario. According to a widely shared story originating from 's , during a meeting at Nintendo's warehouse, an exasperated Segale berated  for overdue rent, and Arakawa decided to rename Jumpman (which the Mario character was initially called) to his current name due to his physical similarities. Sheff misspelled Segale's last name as "Segali", which was thought to be his spelling for years. This story was debunked by warehouse manager who stated that he and Arakawa named him after Segale because he was so reclusive that they did not know what he looked like.

Despite the notoriety, he was known to be proud of the association and happily shared his amusing anecdote with his grandchildren and his close friends. There is little information about Segale, however, as he kept a low profile throughout his life, and few photographs of him exist.

Segale passed away in his home in on October 27, 2018, at age 84. According to his obituary, he wanted to be known for his life accomplishments, and according to his acquaintances, he was said to be reluctant to be associated with the Super Mario character due to the risk of it interfering with his brand.

Trivia

 * Segale was a duck hunting hobbyist and his favorite color was red.