Voice Actor Takeshi Watabe (渡部猛) died on December 13th, 2010. He was 74 years old. He was undergoing medical treatment for lung cancer but caught pneumonia which caused complications with his treatment. He voiced a couple of roles in the Pocket Monsters anime series.

In Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation Episode #65 he voiced Professor Jacuzzi (シャクジイ博士) and in the original series episode #41 he played the Village Elder.

Source: 81 Actor's Studio

It seems that we are all getting older as more of the original series people are starting to die off. One thing that is nice is that he will be remembered by those that watch his roles.

In episode 41, Takeshi Watabe plays the oldest elder (長老) according to the ending credits. Pokeani lists him as village headman (村長). Thanks to Dogasu for the heads up to get me to double check this with the credits.