SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS Creator Stephen Hillenburg Passes Away at 57

Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the Nickelodeon cartoon series "SpongeBob SquarePants," died on Monday at the age of 57, according to Variety.

Hillenburg died of ALS, which he revealed he had been diagnosed with in March of last year. He is survived by his wife of twenty years Karen Hillenburg, son Clay, mother Nancy Hillenburg (nee Dufour) and brother Brian Kelly Hillenburg, his wife Isabel, and nieces Emma and Hazel.

In a statement, Nickelodeon said, "We are incredibly saddened by the news that Steve Hillenburg has passed away following a battle with ALS. He was a beloved friend and long-time creative partner to everyone at Nickelodeon, and our hearts go out to his entire family. Steve imbued 'SpongeBob SquarePants' with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere. His utterly original characters and the world of Bikini Bottom will long stand as a reminder of the value of optimism, friendship and the limitless power of imagination."

Hillenburg was born August 21, 1961, at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. He graduated from Humboldt State University in 1984 with a bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources. He then became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute) in Dana Point, California. This led him to to write and illustrate stories as teaching tools with characters that would later become Bikini Bottom.

In 1987, he began his animation career, pursuing a degree in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of Arts in Valencia and earning his Master of Fine Arts in 1992.

From 1993 to 1996 he worked in television as a director and writer on Nickelodeon's series "Rocko's Modern Life." After that, he began to work full-time on writing producing, and directing on the animated series that would eventually become "SpongeBob SquarePants." The first episode aired on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999. To date, the series has aired nearly 250 episodes, has won both U.S. and British Emmy Awards, Annie Awards, and ASACP Awards, and has been dubbed or sub-titled in more than 60 languages.

Hillenburg also wrote, produced, and directed "The SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS Movie", which was released in 2004. He then wrote the story for and was the executive producer of the sequel, "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water," in 2015. His show inspired the recent Broadway hit, "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical," which concluded its run on Sunday, September 16, 2018. SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS was named Best Musical by the Drama Desk Awards and Outer Critics Circle and earned 12 Tony Award nominations - the most nominated musical of the 2017-2018 theatre season - winning for Best Scenic Design of a Musical (David Zinn).

Read the original article on Variety.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus