Griffin dove into the water off a wharf building in Nantucket, Massachusetts, just hours after reportedly helping raise $100,000 for Lou Gehrig’s disease charity ALS research.

Corey Griffin, a philanthropist who was instrumental in making the ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) ice bucket challenge fund-raising drive go viral, has died after drowning in a diving accident off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Griffin dove into the water off a wharf building in Nantucket, Massachusetts, just hours after reportedly helping raise $100,000 for Lou Gehrig’s disease charity ALS research, according to this report in The Independent.

Griffin "helped turn the ice bucket challenge for ALS into a fund-raising sensation after his friend Pete Frates was diagnosed", according to an obituary in the Boston Globe,which also quoted his father Robert describing him as "the happiest guy in the world".

“He was a night owl and did not need a lot of sleep,” his mother, Cathy was quoted as saying in the obit:

When she drove him to games, Griffin often asked when they would arrive. “If I said ‘in 10 minutes,’ he’d stay awake. If I said ‘15 minutes,’ he’d say, ‘OK, Mom,’ and within 10 seconds he would be asleep, and he would take this knock-out nap and you couldn’t wake the kid up until you got into the parking lot. Literally 10 seconds. Amazing.”

The ice bucket challenge has been one of the biggest talking points online in the past few days. The challenge is to raise awareness about Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is neuro-degenerative and is also known as motor neurone disease (MND), or Lou Gehrig's disease in the US.

The Ice-bucket challenge is a simple request. Once challenged by someone, a user has to post a video of themselves dumping a bucket of ice cold water over their heads. Once soaked with cold water, they extend the challenge to others and ask them to either do the same or make a donation to an organisation dedicated to fighting ALS.

The ice bucket challenge went viral on social media after US baseball player and ALS patient, Pete Frates, floated the idea of the challenge.

The challenge has been taken by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Lady Gaga, Charlie Sheen, George Bush and the Foo Fighters with even Russian President Vladimir Putin being challenged this week.

"Helping out was nothing new for Griff," Frates wrote on Facebook. "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. We texted everyday, planning and scheming ways to raise funds and plan events."