This is sad and ironic. Surely, somebody in your family (if not everybody) has participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge that has raised nearly $27 Million for ALS research. Corey Griffin was the co-founder in that great feat after his buddy, Pete Frates, was diagnosed with the life threatening disease. We now learn that Griffin has passed away after a tragic drowning accident (iambrianjames.com) :

Corey Griffin was ecstatic when he called his father Friday night from Nantucket Island. The 27-year-old had just raised $100,000 to fight ALS in honor of his friend, Pete Frates, whose struggle with the disease turned the Ice Bucket Challenge into a viral sensation.

“He was the happiest guy in the world,” Corey’s father, Robert Griffin, said of his son “He called me last night and told me he was in paradise.”

Hours later, at about 2 a.m. Saturday, Griffin dove into the water from the “Juice Guys” building on Straight Wharf, according to a statement from Nantucket police. He floated to the surface, then he sank. He did not come up again.

An off-duty Nantucket lifeguard named Colin Perry who happened to be working nearby made several rescue dives and recovered Griffin from the bottom of the harbor, according to the police statement. Officers tried to resuscitate him until the fire department took him to Nantucket Cottage Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 3 a.m.

“He cared about everybody else,” said Robert Griffin, president of the New England area for Cushman & Wakefield, a large commercial real estate firm. “He will be missed.”

Corey Griffin’s family and friends said he was in Nantucket to do more fund-raising for ALS research. Robert Griffin said his son was tortured by his friend Frates’s ordeal with the incurable neurodegenerative disease, and had urged him to come visit Frates in their Friday night phone call.

“He was so happy to be able to help him,” Robert Griffin said.

Corey Griffin’s friends and family described him as a fun-loving, athletic, and generous young man. At family gatherings, he was always at the center of a swarm of children, busy organizing wiffle ball or Frisbee games. He was patient, funny, a good role model.

@LordBrianJames

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