For Death Note and manga fans in general, Tsugumi Ohba is the co-author of the classic, cult, and legendary story of Death Note. The interesting and fascinating thing about mangakas is that few things are known about them, and even those things are known because they choose to be known to the public. They don't appear on TV, they are far from being celebrities or academically acclaimed official artists that win Nobel or Pulitzer prizes for that matter.
In fact, a mangaka's life is to remain a mistery, or something that apparently doesn't call anyone's attention. And it's not because it should be irrelevant, it's just that we know that mangakas are people like us, there's not this 'Hollywood and media' approach that we see with actors, or movie directors and writers, and that's perfect, in fact.
It would be horrible to see an artist like Kubo Tite get the same celebrity treatment as, say, J.K Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. You know there's something not right about it....