GIF inventor, Steve Wilhite dies from COVID-19 complications

Steve Wilhite and his wife, Kathaleen Wilhite, had just purchased a new truck and camper in hopes of camping at some of their favorite spots in Tennessee, Kentucky and Michigan when everything suddenly changed.

On March 1, Steve Wilhite, the beloved creator of the GIF file format, contracted COVID-19.

“It came on suddenly. He woke up one morning, and he said, ‘Honey, I don’t feel good. I don’t feel good at all.’ And he was running a fever, throwing up so badly. And then the next day he started coughing badly,” Kathaleen Wilhite told NPR over the phone Wednesday night.