An untimely death after a huge success. Corey Griffin, one of the men behind the ALS #IceBucketChallenge fundraiser and a friend of Pete Frates, who inspired the challenge, has died at the age of 27.
Griffin passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning, Aug. 16, in Nantucket, Mass. according to the Boston Globe.
This past weekend, the Nantucket Police Department released a statement reading, "On August 16, 2014 at 2:00 AM, the Nantucket Police Department received a report of a man missing in the harbor after diving from a building on Straight Wharf. Responding officers determined the missing person was Corey C Griffin."
The former college hockey player was a good friend of Frates, a former Boston College baseball captain, who has been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Griffin was one of the men behind the Frates-inspired viral #IceBucketChallenge fundraiser, which has brought in millions of dollars in donations for the ALS Association in recent weeks.
"Team FrateTrain lost a good friend today, Corey Griffin," Frates wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday. "Helping out was nothing new for Griff. He held his own event for me back in 2012, just a few months after diagnosis. He worked his butt off these last few weeks for ALS. We texted everyday, planning and scheming ways to raise funds and plan events."
"Julie, myself, the Frates family and Team FrateTrain sends their love and support to the South Shore and the Griffin family," Frates continued of his wife and his loved ones. "God Bless. RIP Corey."
The late Griffin's father, Robert Griffin, spoke to the Boston Globe following his son's death. "He was the happiest guy in the world," Robert said Saturday, going on to reflect on Corey's recent successes, saying, "He called me last night and told me he was in paradise."
"He cared about everybody else," Robert added to the Globe. "He will be missed."
