Eli Thompson, who attracted worldwide media attention after he was born without a nose, died Saturday evening, according to his father, Jeremy Finch.

Eli had turned two years old on March 4.

He was pronounced dead at around 10:40 p.m. at Springhill Medical Center in Mobile, Finch said.

Eli was "very, very bright and happy, always smiling and giving everybody fist bumps," Finch said in a phone interview Sunday morning.

He used baby sign language, and Finch was starting to do speech therapy at home with a speaking valve, he said. "His favorite sign was 'cookie,'" he said. The first thing he did every morning was to ask for a cookie, and he recently received the "Cookie Monster Award" from his daycare.

"He touched a lot of people's lives," Finch said, with tears in his voice. "A lot of people cared about him."

Eli was born at South Baldwin Hospital in Foley, then immediately transported to USA Children's and Women's Hospital in Mobile. He received a tracheotomy at 5 days old.

Through a no-longer-extant Facebook page called Eli's Story, thousands of people followed the tale of the baby born with arhinia, a rare facial anomaly said to affect only one in 197 million births.

When he was 7 months old, Eli met another child, Tessa Evans of Ireland, then 2 1/2 years old, who also had arhinia.

"To get to introduce Tessa to Eli was like a dream come true and it meant the world to us to sit and talk with his family," Tessa's mother, Grainne Evans, wrote after the meeting. "Tessa was totally taken with Eli and hugged him and stroked his head. Watching Eli gaze up at her was too precious for words."

[Related story: Eli the center of attention at first fundraiser]

[Related story: Read about Eli at 6 months old]

Finch said the family is still finalizing arrangements for Eli's funeral service, which will be held at Fountain of Life Church in Saraland.