(AP Photo/David Klepper, File)PROVIDENCE, R.I. โ The creator of the Rhode Island landmark, the Big Blue Bug, which advertises a local pest control business on Interstate 95 in Providence, has died.
According to his obituary, George Cardono died Tuesday at the age of 88, the Providence Journal reported.
The idea for the beloved termite came from Big Blue Bug founder Leonard Goldman, his son Stephan and โtheir outside advertising manโ Cardono according to a 2012 Providence Journal column by Mark Patinkin.
Cardono, an artist with a Rhode Island School of Design background, studied termites under a microscope to create the advertisement.
AdThe 58-foot-long, 4,000 pound (17 meter-long, 1,815 kilogram) Rhode Island icon cost $30,000, the newspaper reported.