Ice Bucket Challenge Co-Founder Dead at 27

Corey Griffin jumped from building into Nantucket Harbor
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 21, 2014 11:32 AM CDT
Ice Bucket Challenge Co-Founder Dead at 27
This undated photo provided by his family shows Corey Griffin, who died after diving off a building into the harbor in Nantucket, Mass., Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. His funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug 21, 2014, at St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church in Cohasset, Mass. Griffin recently raised...   (AP Photo/Griffin Family)

One of the masterminds behind this summer's Ice Bucket Challenge died early Saturday in Nantucket. Police say Corey Griffin, 27, dove off the Juice Guys building into the harbor around 2am, floated to the surface briefly, then sank, the Boston Globe reports. An off-duty lifeguard tried to rescue Griffin and eventually recovered his body; officers attempted resuscitation but he was declared dead at the hospital an hour later. Griffin was in Nantucket raising funds for ALS and had called his father Friday night to say "he was in paradise" after raising $100,000 in honor of friend and ALS sufferer Pete Frates. "He was so happy to be able to help him," Griffin's father, Robert, tells the Globe.

Frates, who inspired the Ice Bucket Challenge, was among countless making tributes to Griffin online, saying "helping out was nothing new for Griff … He worked his butt off these last few weeks for ALS. We texted every day, planning and scheming ways to raise funds and plan events," Yahoo7 adds. Friends and family remember him as a promising young leader devoted to helping others. "He was a giver. He gave back at every opportunity. Whether it was his friends or the community," a family friend tells the Globe. (More ice bucket challenge stories.)

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