Stephen Earl Wilhite was born in West Chester, Ohio, on March 3, 1948. His father, Clarence Earl Wilhite, was a factory worker; his mother, Anna Lou (Dorsey) Wilhite, was a nurse.
Later in life, Mr Wilhite’s wife said, he recorded the history of his invention in a three-page document that he shared with his children and grandchildren.
When one of his granddaughters, Kylie, told her computer teacher that her grandfather invented the GIF, the teacher didn’t believe her, Ms. Wilhite said. This prompted Mr. Wilhite to write a letter to the teacher to confirm the story. “Then he signed it Steve Wilhite, and he said, ‘Google it'”
Mr. Wilhite retired after a stroke at age 51, but he continued to use his computer programming skills to expand his model railroad layout. That hobby, his wife said, would be confined to the basement of his house but spread to other rooms as Mr. Wilhite built model train bridges in his upstairs office.
Ms. Wilhite said her husband also enjoyed being outdoors and that they went camping a lot with her son Rick, who she said was one of Mr Wilhite’s “best buddies”.
They traveled from their home in Milford, Ohio, to the tip of Florida and to the Grand Canyon, she said. “Steve loved the pine trees in the north, and I love the ocean, so that gave us a great span.”
The couple married in 2010, when they were both in their 60s. Ms. Wilhite said their first date was at a Cracker Barrel the year before they got married.
