Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Spongebob Squarepants Dies at 57

Many children grow attached to the shows they watch as kids. The tune of a song or the laugh of their favorite characters can bring them back to the countless Saturday morning in which they woke up early and propped themselves in front of the TV just to watch hours of their favorite cartoons.

Spongebob Squarepants is one of these shows, and it is universally recognizable. Over its 19 years on TV the show has gained millions of viewers worldwide. Millennials are understandably the largest demographic of the shows viewers as they were young when the show was in its prime.

The shows fun loving star, Spongebob, touched the hearts of many. Some would even consider the main cast of the show to be like a part of their family.

The show was created unconventionally. Show creator Stephen Hillenburg never intended to create a children's show. His journey started in his classroom. He was teaching marine biology at the Ocean Institute of California when he sought for a creative way to teach young kids visiting the school about tidal pools. For this, he created a comic book called “The Tidal Zone." This comic eventually paved the way for the enormous success of a show.

Through the creation of this comic Hillenburg realized his passion for art was outweighing his love for marine biology. He had tried to get his piece published but to no avail. Thankfully, Hillenburg was given a job by the creator of Rocko’s Modern life as he saw something in Hillenburg that others did not see.

In the years Hillenburg worked for Rocko’s Modern Life, he continued working on his marine life comic. He continued to develop the story by adding new characters, some back story, and settings. After the end of Rocko's Modern Life, Hillenburg pitched the show to Nickelodeon and changed the cartoon game forever.

Stephen Hillenburg oversaw the first three seasons of the show, which many argue to be the shows most successful and influential seasons. Hillenburg was prideful of his show, but stepped away as his vision was for the show to end after the first movie came out.

After being away from the show for ten years, Hillenburg returned to pen “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” which was released in 2015. Two years later he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). After a long battle with the disease Hillenburg passed away on Monday, November 26, 2018.

Hillenburg was arguably one of the most beloved cartoonists of all time. Not only did he create a multi-billion dollar industry, he touched the hearts of multiple generations of children. He even visited, or made it possible for Spongebob to visit kids on multiple occasions because of the make a wish foundation.

The legacy left by Stephen Hillenburg with live on forever as his ever growing empire has shown no signs of letting up soon.

Thank you Stephen Hillenburg for all you have given to us and rest in peace in your pineapple under the sea.