Beck Pays Tribute to Former Neighbor 'SpongeBob Squarepants' Creator Stephen Hillenburg

"Better known as the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, I always remembered him as a genuinely sweet guy," the singer wrote in a Facebook post.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Beck paid tribute to his former neighbor SpongeBob Squarepants creator Stephen Hillenburg. Hillenburg died on Monday following a long fight against ALS. He was 57.

The singer opened up about his relationship with the animator in the Facebook post.

"Very sad to hear the news of the passing of Stephen Hillenberg, who years and years ago used to be my neighbor and kindly did the artwork for the first music that I ever released," he wrote. The post included a photo of Hillenburg's crude image for Beck's 1993 single "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack."

In addition to the single art, the post included a photo of Hillenburg holding an animated SpongeBob Squarepants and a photo of Beck standing behind the animator's old apartment.

"Better known as the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, I always remembered him as a genuinely sweet guy," he continued. "I was lucky to get to run into him by chance at the airport a few months ago. Sending my condolences to his family and to all the friends who are missing him today and thinking about old times."

Read the full post below.