Morgan Spurlock, the documentarian behind the Academy-Award nominated "Super Size Me," has passed away from cancer. He died Thursday in New York.

"It was a sad day, as we said goodbye to my brother Morgan," his brother Craig Spurlock said in a statement. "Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas and generosity. Today the world has lost a true creative genius and a special man. I am so proud to have worked together with him."

Spurlock was 53.

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A native West Virginian, Spurlock made waves in 2004 with "Super Size Me," where he ate nothing but McDonald's for a month. The documentary - innovative and jarring - showed how Spurlock's physical and mental health changed over the course of 30 days.

It took Spurlock 14 months to lose the weight he had gained during the experiment.

His next big project was in 2008, with "Where In the World is Osama Bin Laden?" Throughout the documentary, Spurlock tries to locate the now-deceased terrorist. 

Additional projects include "One Direction: This Is Us" and the reality television show "30 Days," which he executive produced and starred in.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.