Creator of SpongeBob SquarePants dies at 57

Stephen Hillenburg, who created SpongeBob SquarePants and the absurd underwater world that he inhabited, died at 57, Nickelodeon announced Tuesday.

Hillenburg died Monday of Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS, the cable network said in a statement. He was 57 years old.

Hillenburg had announced that he was suffering from the disease in March 2017. His death comes just weeks after the death of another cartoon hero at Marvel's creator, Stan Lee.

A native of Oklahoma, Hillenburg has designed, written, produced and directed the animated series that debuted in 1999 and which gave birth to hundreds of episodes, films and a Broadway show .

"He was a beloved friend and a long-time creative partner for everyone at Nickelodeon, and our heart goes out to his entire family," said Nickelodeon's release. "Steve has impregnated SpongeBob SquarePants with a sense of unique humor and innocence that have brought happiness to generations of children and families around the world. His completely original characters and the Bikini Bottom universe will remain long present to recall the value of optimism and friendship, and the unlimited power of the imagination. "

SpongeBob, an absurdly joyful, his sidekick Patrick, and a vast selection of ocean creatures quickly seduced college kids and their parents.

"The fact that it's underwater and isolated from our world helps the characters maintain their own culture," Hillenburg told The Associated Press in 2001. "The essence of the series is that SpongeBob is an innocent in a world characterized by jaded characters.The rest nonsense packing. "

Born in his father's army in Lawton, Oklahoma, Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University in 1984 with a degree in natural resource planning and then taught marine biology at Orange University. County Marine Institute.

He turned to drawing and obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Animation from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992.

The same year, he created an animated short film entitled "Wormholes" that won the festival honors and helped him land a position in the show "Rocko's Modern Life" of Nickelodeon, where he worked from 1993 to 1996 before starting to create the underwater world of SpongeBob's Bikini Bottom. , which testifies to his knowledge of marine life and his willingness to throw all the details out of the window.

"We know that fish do not work," he told AP, "and that there is no organized community with roads, where cars are really If you know a lot about sponges, you know that live sponges are not squares. "

The show was an immediate success that has not lost its dynamism for nearly 20 years since its inception. His nearly 250 episodes have won four Emmy Awards and 15 Kids Choice Awards, creating an endless array of products that can compete with any other pop culture of the 2000s.

In 2004, the show went on the big screen with "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" and a sequel in 2015, "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water".

A musical adaptation on stage took place on Broadway in 2017, with musicians such stars as Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles and John Legend. He has won 12 Tony Award nominations, including one for the best performance of a lead actor for Ethan Slater.

"I am sorry to hear about the death of Stephen Hillenburg," Slater said in an email on Tuesday. "By working on" SpongeBob ", I've known him not only as a creative genius, but also as a truly generous and kind person.He warmly embraced us on Broadway as new members of his wonderful family" SpongeBob "from the start why he is so loved: a sincere kindness."

Hillenburg leaves behind his wife Karen Hillenburg, his son Clay, his mother Nancy Hillenburg and his brother Brian Kelly Hillenburg.