'SpongeBob' creator Stephen Hillenburg dies at 57

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenburg has died at age 57.

Nickelodeon says Hillenburg died Monday of Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS.

Hillenburg conceived, wrote, produced and directed the animated series that began in 1999 and went on to spawn hundreds of episodes, movies and a Broadway show.


FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2015 file photo, SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg attends the world premiere of "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water" in New York. Hillenburg died Monday, Nov. 26, 2018 of ALS. He was 57. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Charles Sykes

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[BamaRefugee]

1. R.I.P. Stephen. I lost my son to ALS last October after many years of struggle and despair.

The diagnosis of ALS is also the death sentence for the patient, no one has ever survived it.
It's a terrible terrible disease that turns your body into a frozen skeleton, while your mind still works as always, but you can't speak to anyone. I can't even imagine the horror of being trapped like that, but my son stayed strong for years past what the doctors predicted. We were able to take him to Mexico for stem cell treatments that are not allowed in US, which extended his life, thanks to incredible fund raising by members of the movie and music industry.

Hopefully one day there will be a cure, but with ALS being so rare, it will probably never get enough funding.

Thank you Mr. Hillenburg for your creation of Sponge Bob, which will live for many decades to come.

[kwassa]

5. Stem cell treatments are not allowed?

A friend of mine has received them in California, to treat his cancer. Kaiser Permanente. He has survived four years so far because of these treatments.

[Coventina]

11. My family has a genetic variant of the disease.

If your family is similar, you can join an ongoing study with the Mayo Clinic.

I am sorry to hear of your loss. It's been heartbreaking for our family as well.

[yardwork]

12. I'm very sorry for your loss.

[vercetti2021]

2. I'm sad honestly

This man created one of the best shows of my childhood. I loved the early days of Spongebob. I still watch the first couple of seasons to this day just to keep it intact.

[Javaman]

3. Thank you, Mr. Hillenburg

you had given me hours of laughter.

Rest in Peace.

[zonkers]

4. SB was infused with such cleverness, kindness and existential angst. Damn. What a cool dude.

[kydo]

6. .....

[BootinUp]

7. Dang, what a loss. RIP.

[Gore1FL]

8. Barnacles. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Oh no!

We are almost the same age (about 4 months apart). I had always wondered why so much of that show seemed to touch on stuff (including innuendos) that my generation grew up with... And that's because he was a part of it.

R.I.P.

[peekaloo]

19. Exactly why I loved this show.

Kids and adults can both watch it and come away with two different takes.

Brought to mind my favorite ep where SpongeBob actually curses although it's spoken in "dolphin".

[JHan]

10. ..

[peekaloo]

18. Sweet.

RIP

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Awww...

And they had Squidward do it.

[yardwork]

13. I loved that show and so did my son.

[Demonaut]

14. He probably knew the diagnosis when the shot was taken, to lose everything but your mind

[0rganism]

15. RIP Mr. Hillenberg

may peace await you in the hereafter, now liberated from the broken body that imprisoned you at the end

[Apollyonus]

16. RIP

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

17. That's a shame. I love Sponge Bob.

It's such a funny show. That's why I picked Sponge Bob as my avatar. I have a video of my son singing the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song from when he was 3 years old. Very cute and funny.