By Javier Tovar Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States — Stephen Hillenburg, the biology teacher turned creative genius behind the wildly successful “SpongeBob SquarePants” children’s animation series has died, Nickelodeon announced Tuesday. He was 57. Hillenburg passed away on Monday from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, associates said. He created the hit Nickelodeon series, launched in 1999, which recounted the adventures of a yellow sponge and his friends in the make-believe city […]