That really sucks. I've always loved SpongeBob. It's one of the few non Jim Henson-related childhood shows of mine that I still enjoy just as much (if not more at times) as an adult as I did back then. That's a shame that Stephen died but the legacy of his work will live on forever. I have a feeling that SpongeBob will go down in history as one of the great animation icons of all time alongside Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Fred Flintstone, Charlie Brown, and Homer Simpson some day. I can picture people still watching SpongeBob reruns nearly 100 years from now, just like how kids still love classic Looney Tunes nowadays.
I'll never forget all the times he and that hilarious, iconic yellow sponge of his made me smile. I'll really miss him but the impact he had on my creative mind as well as many other peoples' will live on. I'm not sure whether or not my sense of humor would be the same if not for SpongeBob. That signature style of random sight gags, musical numbers, memorable quotes that my friends and I have said constant times, clever plots, and occasional cutaways to live action material is a very unique type of humor that had never been done before when the show first premiered in 1999.