Stephen Wilhite, creator of the GIF, has died.

Stephen Wilhite, the inventor of the internet-popular short-video format, the GIF, has died. He was 74.

His wife, Kathaleen, said he died of COVID on March 14.

Wilhite, who lived in Milford, Ohio, won a Webby lifetime achievement award in 2013 for inventing the GIF, which decades after its creation became omnipresent in memes and on social media, often used as a cheeky representation of a cultural moment.

Wilhite was working at CompuServe in 1987 when he invented the GIF. In that interview, he said the ’90s-era dancing baby GIF is a favorite of his.

Source: www.pbs.org

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