Definition: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the megahit Nickelodeon cartoon series “SpongeBob SquarePants,” died on Monday. He was 57. 
  
 The cause of death was ALS, which Hillenburg revealed he had been diagnosed with in March of last year. 
  
 “We are incredibly saddened by the news that Steve Hillenburg has passed away following a battle with ALS,” Nickelodeon said in a statement. “He was a beloved friend and long-time creative partner to everyone at Nickelodeon, and our hearts go out to his entire family. Steve imbued ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere. 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.” 
  
 Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources. He then became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute) in Dana Point, California. This interest, combined with his artistic talent and love of the sea and its creatures, led him to write and illustrate stories as teaching tools with characters that would later become the denizens of SpongeBob’s home, Bikini Bottom. 
  
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 He began his animation career in 1987, pursuing a degree in Experimental Animation at the California Institute of Arts in Valencia and earning his Master of Fine Arts in 1992. 
  
 That same year he won an award for Best Animated Concept at the Ottawa International Animation Festival for his animated short “Wormholes”, which went on to be shown at various international animation festivals. From 1993 to 1996 he would pursue work in television as a director and writer on Nickelodeon’s series “Rocko’s Modern Life.” 
  
 From there, he began to work full-time on writing producing, and directing on the animated series that would eventually become “SpongeBob SquarePants.” The first episode aired on Nickelodeon on May 1, 1999 and the series commenced its full run on July 17 of that year. The series has aired nearly 250 episodes to date. It appealed not only to children but older viewers as well, with college students even organizing viewing parties for the show. 
  
 The series has won both U.S. and British Emmy Awards, Annie Awards, and ASACP Awards and has been dubbed or subtitled in more than 60 languages, including Urdu, Azerbaijani and Maori. 
  
 Hillenburg also wrote, produced, and directed “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie,” which was released in 2004 and went on to gross over $140 million worldwide. Hillenburg then wrote the story for and was the executive producer of the sequel, “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” in 2015. 
  
 Hillenburg — or Steve as he was known to family, friends, and fans — was born August 21, 1961, at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. After leaving the military, his father, Kelly N. Hillenburg, Jr., became a draftsman and designer for aerospace companies. His mother Nancy taught visually impaired students. 
  
 He is survived by his wife of 20 years Karen Hillenburg, son Clay, mother Nancy Hillenburg (nee Dufour) and brother Brian Kelly Hillenburg, his wife Isabel, and nieces Emma and Hazel. 
  
 RELATED VIDEO: ||||| A nine-time Emmy nominee for the show, he was diagnosed with ALS in March 2017. 
  
 Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the Nickelodeon animated megahit SpongeBob SquarePants, died Monday. He was 57. 
  
 Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at his home in Southern California. He was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease in March 2017. 
  
 Nickelodeon on Tuesday announced his death in a tweet: "We are sad to share the news of the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants. Today, we are observing a moment of silence to honor his life and work." 
  
 Hillenburg was a nine-time Emmy nominee for SpongeBob, but never a winner. 
  
 In February at the Annie Awards in Los Angeles, Hillenburg was among those given a Winsor McCay honor for his career contributions to animation. Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob, made the stage presentation and accepted the award on Hillenburg's behalf as he remained seated to receive a standing ovation. 
  
 Born Aug. 21, 1961, in Lawton, Oklahoma, Hillenburg graduated from Northern California's Humboldt State University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in natural resource planning and interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources. 
  
 "Obviously, SpongeBob is a comedy, but it really was inspired by me liking marine science," he said in a 2015 interview. "I focused on that, and I never thought the two would come together." 
  
 While working as a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute) in Dana Point, California, Hillenburg noticed that "animation started booming," and that led him to enroll at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia as a graduate student in 1987. He left five years later with a degree in experimental animation. 
  
 Starting in 1993, Hillenburg wrote and directed for Rocko's Modern Life and Rugrats at Nickelodeon. 
  
 Martin Olson, a writer on Rocko's Modern Life, admired a comic book that Hillenburg had drawn and written about tide pools. "It got me thinking, 'If I were to do a show, it would be about these invertebrates and these crazy animals that exist in the ocean,'" Hillenburg recalled. "It was that moment that said, 'Maybe I should pursue this.'" 
  
 SpongeBob SquarePants premiered in May 1999. The series — which has won multiple awards, including honors from the British Emmys, the Annies and ASCAP — has aired more than 250 episodes during its nearly two decades on air. 
  
 Hillenburg also was an early voice actor for Potty the Parrot and played the ukulele for some of the show's original music. 
  
 SpongeBob SquarePants has been adapted twice for the big screen: 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and again for 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Additionally, the character found life on the stage in the Tony-winning SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, which wrapped a 327-show stint in September. 
  
 Hillenburg is survived by his wife of 20 years, Karen (the character Karen Plankton is named for her); son Clay; mother Nancy; brother Brian and his wife, Isabel; and nieces Emma and Hazel. 
  
 "Steve imbued SpongeBob SquarePants with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere," Nickelodeon said. "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." 
  
 Mike Barnes and Carolyn Giardina contributed to this report. |||||
Output:
It's a sad day in the fictional world of Bikini Bottom. Stephen Hillenburg, the man who created SpongeBob Squarepants and his undersea pals, has died at age 57, reports Variety. Hillenburg, who revealed last year that he had ALS, didn't start out as an animator. As the Hollywood Reporter notes, he graduated from Humboldt State in 1984 with a bachelor's in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation. But it all begins to make sense with his degree's emphasis: marine resources. After working as a marine biology teacher for a few years, Hillenburg got his master's degree in his other great interest, animation. He would go on to famously combine the two with SpongeBob. Nearly 250 episodes have aired since the first one on Nickelodeon in 1999, and Hillenburg also wrote two SpongeBob movies, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004 and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water in 2015. “Steve imbued SpongeBob SquarePants with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of kids and families everywhere," said a Nickelodeon 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.” Hillenburg is survived by his wife, Karen, and son, Clay. (SpongeBob has been climbing the ranks of TV characters.)