On Aug. 21, 1961, Stephen Hillenburg, artist, animator, and creator of the cultural phenomenon “SpongeBob SquarePants,” was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Raised in Anaheim, Hillenburg’s early love of the ocean led him to Humboldt State University, where he graduated in 1984 with a degree in natural-resource planning and interpretation, with an emphasis in marine biology. He went on to teach at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute).

But Hillenburg also carried a second passion: animation.

After several years as a marine biology teacher, he shifted careers and enrolled at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, earning an MFA in Experimental Animation in 1992. While there, he created short films such as “The Green Beret” (1991) and “Wormholes”(1992), both of which were screened at international festivals.

Hillenburg’s big idea grew out of his time at CalArts, where he had created a comic book called “The Intertidal Zone” in 1989. Expanding those characters into a full series, he developed the undersea world of Bikini Bottom. His original sponge design was naturalistic, but he eventually made the character square “because it looked funnier.”

In 1998, Hillenburg pitched the concept to Nickelodeon using storyboards, character models, and even a working aquarium. Although he first called the character “SpongeBoy,” copyright conflicts led him to rename him “SpongeBob SquarePants.” The show premiered in July 1999, quickly becoming one of the most successful and beloved cartoons of all time.

Hillenburg later directed “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” (2004) and continued to guide the series as an executive producer, with credits as late as 2015. A skilled ukulele player, he even performed on the soundtrack for the song “Best Day Ever.” By the mid-2010s, his creation had become a global cultural phenomenon, with an estimated net worth placing Hillenburg among the world’s wealthiest scientists.

In 2017, Hillenburg revealed that he had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He continued working “for as long as I am able,” he told Variety. He passed away in 2018 at the age of 57.

Hillenburg remained closely tied to Santa Clarita through his alma mater, CalArts. Both he and hsi wife Karen supported scholarships and alumni programs.

As CalArts President Ravi Rajan noted in his memorial: “He was able to take his passion for making art, as well as for marine biology, and merge them into a creative project that has had a huge impact on society, in the U.S. and internationally.”

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click here.

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