
Stephen Wilhite died last week from COVID at the age of 74. He is best known for inventing the GIF, which was released in June 1987 by early internet titan, CompuServe, at a time when households across America were just starting to purchase home computers.
GIFs have occupied the walls of art galleries and the walls of Facebook; they’ve been a favorite among boomers on iMessage and late 90s digital artists. From glittering MySpace graphics to a creepy dancing baby to the entire Shrek movie, GIFs can be just about anything you want them to be.