Beloved creator of the GIF dies following complications from COVID, wife confirms

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/23/ [login to see] /gif-creator-dead-steve-wilhite-kathaleen-wife-interview
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.

Kathaleen, who had also contracted COVID-19, had Steve taken to a hospital near their home in Milford, Ohio, where he was treated with antibiotics before being placed in intensive care. The pair couldn't see each other because of her diagnosis, she said. Steve was ultimately placed in a coma. Kathaleen tested negative on or about March 10 and was able to be by his bedside, she said. Then she received a call on March 14 from the hospital.