Steve Wilhite, best known for creating the famous GIF format in 1987, passed away on March 14th at the age of 74. The news was confirmed by Stephen’s wife Kathaleen recently. Wilhite died due to post Covid-19 complications on March 14th, but the news did not become public until March 23rd.
GIF, which has now become one of the most popular formats for sharing images and memes via the internet, was first introduced in 1987. The initially compressed format of the GIF allowed slow modem connections of the 1980s to transfer images more efficiently. Whereas, the animation feature was added a little later through an updated version of the GIF file format.
Wilhite worked for CompuServe till 2001, and only retired when he had a stroke. However, once CompuServe was acquired by the New York-based online service provider, American Online (AOL) in 1998, the GIF patents expired and the format became open to the public domain.
In the weeks leading up to March 1st, Kathaleen said, Steve could be found in his model-train room tweaking with his creations and computer programming. Kathaleen, who had also contracted COVID-19, had Steve taken to a hospital in Milford, Ohio, where he was treated with antibiotics before being placed in intensive care, after which he was ultimately placed in a coma. Following this on March 14th, Kathaleen received a call from the hospital informing her of Steve’s demise.