Stephen Hillenburg was an American animator and marine biology teacher. He is best known as the creator of one of the longest-running American animated television series, ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ Born in Oklahoma and raised in California, Stephen became interested in the aquatic life and oceans. He also became interested in art and started drawing at a very young age. He studied marine biology in college and became a marine biology teacher at the ‘Orange County Marine Institute.’ While working at the educational organization, he created a comic book about marine life called ‘The Intertidal Zone,’ which would later serve as an inspiration for ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ After teaching at the ‘Orange County Marine Institute’ for three years, he decided to change his career and thus joined an animation program. He then started working for Nickelodeon’s animated series ‘Rocko’s Modern Life.’ In the mid-1990s, he came up with the idea of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ The series premiered in 1999 and eventually became one of the most popular animated series in the history of American television. Stephen went on to receive six ‘Annie Awards’ and two ‘Emmy Awards’ for the series. Stephen died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 57 after battling the illness for over a year.