Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, passes away at 74

Stephen Wilhite, the creator of the looping animated Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) image format, died this month at the age of 74 years due to Covid-19 related issues.

Wilhite devised the Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF, in 1987 while working at Compuserve. The Oxford American Dictionary named GIF the word of the year in 2012. He was honoured with a Webby Lifetime Achievement award in 2013.