This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The ALS Association says a man credited as one of the co-founders of the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” that swept social media in 2014 has died after a years-long battle with the condition known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Anthony Senerchia was 46.

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The Anthony Senerchia Jr ALS Charitable Foundation website says the Pelham, New York native died early on Saturday.

In a video released by the ALS Association, Senerchia’s wife, Jeanette, discusses how she helped launch the challenge by dumping a bucket of icy water on herself in 2014 and posting the video to Facebook. The challenge really took off when it reached friends of Pete Frates, a former baseball star at Boston College who was also fighting ALS, a condition also known as motor neurone disease.

Senerchia’s bucket was put on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington last year.