Potters Bar man co-founds website allowing people to send messages after their death (From Times Series)

Potters Bar man co-founds website allowing people to send messages after their death

5:13pm Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Top Stories By Emma Phippen

A software developer from Potters Bar has co-founded a new website allowing people to send posthumous messages to loved ones.

Pankaj Goel, 41, who lives in Mutton Lane, worked with David Levey, also 41, to create Immortum, a site which allows people to continue social media interaction after they have died.

Immortum lets people near the end of their lives store memories or messages online and publish them after their deaths.

For example, one user has posted an undisclosed message for her young daughter which will be delivered when she grows up and gets married.

Mr Goel said: “People often pass letters to a lawyer to hand on after their death and these letters can hold a family together.

“If a single letter can have such an affect then technology allowing any number of messages to be left would be amazing.

“I think this is especially important for children who lose a parent as they will not understand why their friends receive birthday messages from their parent but they don’t.

“This site means that parents can still wish their child a happy birthday even though they are no longer here.

“That is just a small thing but it can make all the difference.”

The idea was the brainchild of Mr Levey who thought of it after attending the funeral of a close friend.

During the wake Mr Levey heard the late lady’s young daughter asking for her mother. It was this which gave him the idea for Immortum.

Mr Levey spoke to a number of doctors, charities and grief specialists most of whom agreed that it was important for people to be able to leave messages for people to receive after they have gone.

Mr Goel said: “We hope millions of people will use this site and that it will help them.

“We are hoping to make this site as big as Facebook or Twitter.”