Hillenburg created ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Stephen Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher who created a children’s show that ballooned into an unlikely cultural phenomenon, “SpongeBob SquarePants,” died Monday at his home in Southern California. He was 57.

Hillenburg announced last year that he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the neurodegenerative condition known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Nickelodeon, the channel that has been the show’s home since its premiere in May 1999, announced his death.

“Steve imbued ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere,” the network said in its statement. “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.”

Bikini Bottom is the underwater home of the show’s title character, a good-natured yellow kitchen sponge, or sea creature, or both, who works as a fry cook, has a pet snail and lives in a pineapple.

With its frenetic 11-minute episodes, “SpongeBob” proved irresistible to the 12-and-under crowd, and eventually to many much older fans as well.

The show spawned two movies, in 2004 and 2015, and, last year, a Broadway musical, which was nominated for 12 Tony Awards. (It won one, for scenic design.) It closed in September after 327 performances.

From 1993 to 1996 he was a writer and director on the Nickelodeon series “Rocko’s Modern Life.” where he worked with a number of people who would help him develop “SpongeBob.”

Hillenburg is survived by his wife, Karen (Umland) Hillenburg; a son, Clay; his mother, Nancy; and a brother, Bryan.