Ice Bucket Challenge co-founder Anthony Senerchia, 46

Anthony Senerchia, credited as one of the co-founders of the viral Ice Bucket Challenge that swept social media in 2014, has died at the age of 46.

He had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known in the UK as motor neurone disease, for a number of years.

The Anthony Senerchia Jr ALS Charitable Foundation website said the native of Pelham, New York, had died.

In a video released by the ALS Association, Mr Senerchia’s wife, Jeanette, discusses how she helped launch the challenge by dumping a bucket of icy water on herself in 2014 and posting the video to Facebook.

The challenge really took off when it reached friends of Pete Frates, a former baseball star at Boston College who was also fighting ALS.

High profile figures including George W Bush, Bill Gates, Tom Cruise and Oprah Winfrey took part.

Mr Senerchia’s bucket was put on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington last year.

He was diagnosed with his illness in 2003, shortly after his marriage to Jeanette, and outlived doctors’ expectations by a decade.

According to his obituary on Pelham Funeral Home’s website, Anthony, who had a daughter, Taya, maintained a positive attitude.

He would say: “It’s not what we take from life but what we give back to others is what ultimately defines us.”

The craze founded by Mr Senerchia swept social media in 2014.