Peter Frates, the man who inspired the viral Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money to find a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has died.

Frates, an all-star athlete in high school who later captained the his Boston College baseball team, was 34 at the time of his death, five years after the viral challenge inspired people across the world to raise awareness around the deadly disease.

"Peter Frates. A husband to Julie, a father to Lucy, a son to John and Nancy, a brother to Andrew and Jennifer, Pete passed away surrounded by his loving family, peacefully at age 34, after a heroic battle with ALS," said a statement from the family on Monday. "Pete was an inspiration ot so many people around the world who drew strength from his courage and resiliency."

Frates was diagnosed in 2012 with ALS, a disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. There is no known cure for the disease, which weakens the body's muscles and imparis phsyical functioning.

His disease inspired him to help spark the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, alongside Pat Quinn. The challenge, which involved individuals filming themselves pouring a bucket of ice water over their heads, led to approximately 17 million people around the world getting involved. In addition to raising awareness with the virality of the videos, the challenge raised more than $220 million for research to try and cure the disease.

In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Dave Grohl Potentially the best one so far: Dave Grohl and the guys from Foo Fighters recreated the infamous scene from Carrie YouTube/Foo Fighters In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Lady Gaga Lady Gaga managed to keep an admirably straight face as she poured what looked like a solid silver bowl of cold water over herself HipHopForever/Youtube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Homer Simpson Fans were overjoyed when their favourite yellow cartoon character got involved in the campaign to raise money to help those suffering from ALS. As per usual with Homer Simpson, things escalated quickly YouTube/Fox In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Reece Witherspoon One of those who have arrived slightly late on the scene, actress Reece Witherspoon looks nervous but resolute as she has a bucket of ice-cold water chucked over her head Instagram/Reece Witherspoon In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Lily Allen Lily wore a bikini as she self-administered her bucket of icy water. She thanked Jess Glynne for the nomination, and passed the challenge onto Mark Ronson, Millie Mackintosh and rapper Giggs Instagram/lilyallen In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Daisy Lowe Celebrity ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos seem to be coming in faster than we can watch them - model Daisy Lowe is one of the most recent to get involved. She was nominated by Sun journalist Dan Wooton, and passed it on to radio presenter Nick Grimshaw and Abbey Clancy YouTube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Bill Gates One of the first to go viral on YouTube, Bill Gates had freezing water tipped over him in a bid to raise millions of dollars to fight the illness ALS thegatesnotes/YouTube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge George W. Bush It felt like quite an important moment when the former President of the United States accepted nominations from his daughter Jenna Bush Hager, golfing champion Rory McIlroy, Woody Johnson, and Jim Harbaugh. He nominated 'my friend Bill Clinton' George W.Bush/Facebook In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Jimmy Fallon In an official letter this week, the ALS Association said: 'Never before have been in a better position to fuel our fight against this disease.' NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Tom Hiddleston Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis affects the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons degenerate and die which makes it increasingly difficult to move muscles YouTube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Rita Ora There is no known cause of ALS, though there is a proven hereditary factor in some cases REX/Broadimage In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Taylor Swift There is also no known cure, though the millions being raised by the ALS association will go towards researching these great unknowns TUBEBREAKINGNEWS/YouTube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Oprah Winfrey The illness is also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, named after the all-time great baseball player from the early 20th Century whose time at the top ended when he was stricken with the illness in 1939 In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Mark Zuckerberg The Facebook founder is unarguably the master of the challenge, who – following his drenching – saunters off TV iGosu/YouTube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Justin Bieber Bieber's first attempt was pretty naff: he didn’t quite get it and decided not to use ice or a bucket to complete the challenge. Obviously, the internet moaned at him and he was brilliantly peer pressured into having another go Swaggy Bieber/Youtube In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Justin Timberlake Celebrities have been nominating one another to do the challenge In pictures: The famous do the ice bucket challenge Christiano Ronaldo and Marcelo The challenge is now making its way over to this side of the Atlantic, former Manchester United players Paul Scholes and Gary Neville both doused themselves in cold water for a terminally ill fan MaximumFootballHD/YouTube

"Pete never complained about his illness. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to give hope to other patients and their families," the family said in a statement. "In his lifetime, he was determined to change the trajectory of a disease that had no treatment or cure."