Corey Griffin, 27, who helped popularise the ice bucket challenge internet craze, drowned at the weekend (Picture: Corey Grifin/Facebook)

The man who turned the ice bucket challenge into an internet viral sensation has drowned in a swimming accident.

Corey Griffin, 27, had attended a fundraiser in Nantucket, Massachusetts, when the accident happened early on Saturday morning.

Griffin had helped raise $100,000 at a charity function on Nantucket Island on Friday night, and reports say that at 2am he dived off a wharf into water and got into trouble.

According to a police report, Griffin ‘floated to the surface… then went under water again not resurfacing’.


He was pulled from the water and CPR was administered on the scene before he was taken to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at 3am.

Corey, right, with siblings Michael and Casey in a photo he posted to Facebook in March (Picture: Corey Griffin/Facebook)

A police investigation was continuing into the accident.



Corey was a close friend of Pete Frates, 29, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012. Frates’s family and friends launched the ice bucket challenge to raise money for ALS research.

Corey helped promote the challenge, which has gone viral with international stars participating, and has raised millions.

Pete Frates wrote on his Facebook page: ‘Team FrateTrain lost a good friend… Helping out was nothing new for Griff. He held his own event for me back in 2012, just a few months after diagnosis. He worked his butt off these last few weeks for ALS.’