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Man Who Raised $100,000 For ALS Research Drowns

Corey Griffin was friends with Pete Frates, the man who inspired the viral ice bucket challenge.
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A tragic story coming out of the revelry surrounding the success of the ice bucket challenge. A man who'd helped raise more than $100,000 for ALS research died over the weekend. Across local outlets, friends and family are all saying the same thing.

WHDH:"Corey was all about family, friends and giving back." 

"Corey threw himself behind a lot of causes, way more so than anyone of our generation, and just put his heart and soul behind these things."

NECN"Just kind of the way Corey's always lived his life — it was about other people."

WFXT"He was very committed to giving. He put 100 percent effort behind it for several different causes."

In what the Nantucket Police Department says was a drowning accident, 27-year-old Corey Griffin jumped off the roof of a local business and into a harbor around 2 a.m. Saturday.

His family told The Boston Globe he'd been in Nantucket to raise even more money for ALS research. His father said Saturday: "He was the happiest guy in the world. He called me last night and told me he was in paradise."

That happiness had come, at least in part, from Griffin's success — he'd already raised more than $100,000. 

Griffin was a friend of Pete Frates, the former Boston College baseball player with ALS who is credited with inspiring the ice bucket challenge. So far it's raised more than $11 million. (Video via ESPN)

Griffin also attended Boston College, where he played hockey. Frates wrote on his Facebook page"Team FrateTrain lost a good friend today. ... He worked his butt off these last few weeks for ALS. We texted everyday, planning and scheming ways to raise funds and plan events."

Griffin was a Massachusetts native but had been living in New York City, where he worked for a finance company. He's survived by his parents, brother and sister. He had also worked for years to raise money for Boston Children's Hospital.