'Ice Bucket Challenge' fundraiser dies in diving accident

NANTUCKET, Mass., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The young man who helped the #IceBucketChallenge go viral and propelled it into the national spotlight died in a diving accident over the weekend on Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts.

Corey Griffin was 27 years old; he died at a local hospital early Saturday morning after diving off the top of the Juice Guys building into Nantucket harbor. An off-duty lifeguard pulled Griffin's body from the water, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Griffin was friends with Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, whose diagnosis with ALS inspired the ice bucket challenge. Griffin grew up in Scituate, Mass., and played hockey at Boston College and Babson. Friends say Griffin had spend the last few weeks working to raise money for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and that he'd helped shore up more than $100,000 in donations.

"He worked his butt off these last few weeks for ALS," Frates told local CBS affiliate WBZ-TV. "We texted everyday, planning and scheming ways to raise funds and plan events."

In the wake of the tragic accident, friends of Griffin remembered the young man for his generosity.

"We were saying yesterday we can't remember Corey saying a single thing negative or saying anything bad about anybody," friend Tommy Greeley told CBS.