Stephen Wilhite Death Cause, Obituary, Wife, Children

Stephen E. Wilhite was an American computer scientist who worked at CompuServe and was the Engineering Lead on the team that adapted the GIF image file format from the earlier Unisys-owned LZW algorithm.

Stephen Wilhite’s team at CompuServe developed the GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) in 1987. By 2016, the format had found mainstream use in website design, social media posts, workflow documents and how-to guides.

Before working with CompuServe Information Manager, Stephen Wilhite ran a team that created compilers and run-time systems for use on the DECsystem-10 computers that were the major computing platforms used by CompuServe.

Most notable were the Fortran and BASIC compilers and run-time systems, and a substantial library called “BTOOLS” to support BLISS programming.

Stephen Wilhite died of COVID-19 at a hospital near his home in Milford, Ohio, on March 23, 2022, at the age of 74.

Stephen Wilhite left behind his wife, Kathleen, stepchildren Rick Groves, Robin Landrum, Renee Bennett, Rebecca Boaz and biological son, David Wilwhite.