Entrepreneur and Charlestown resident Jeff Taylor, 47, the whiz behind Monster.com and Eons.com, a social networking site for boomers, is hoping to bring the stodgy newspaper obituary back to life.

By Geoff Edgers

July 27, 2008

You recently launched your latest venture, Tributes.com, a site that allows individuals to post obituaries online. It’s pretty depressing, don’t you think? I mean, why base a whole business around dead people?

You know what? I think it’s exactly the opposite. I have this fascination with having a storied life. I had a relationship with a grandfather, but I wasn’t old enough to appreciate it and I find I have nothing to look at to be able to enjoy that story.

If you were my father, I would appreciate you sitting me down and showing me pictures. Isn’t it a little weird for your kids to go on the Internet to see this?

Stuff is in cardboard boxes in people’s attics. Your classic obituary or death notice is something cut out and sitting in someone’s Bible. I think there is the ability to make connections and build family trees where it’s not just a date of birth and date of death. You’re cynical about this. Want to share your age?

I’m 37.

It’s hard to relate to at 37. It’s creepy at 37. But it’s intriguing at 47.

Why are you still creating websites? Wasn’t Monster.com successful enough? [He sold Monster.com for $900,000 in 1995.]

You know, I’m definitely an entrepreneur. It’s what makes me happy.

How many hours do you spend on the Internet?

In utility or for enjoyment?

Both.

Do you count e-mail?

Yes.

BlackBerry time?

Sure.

I probably spend three hours a day.

How many hours do you spend actually talking to people?

I still have a traditional diary that has appointments at 9, 10, 11. That usually includes face-to-face or phone.

Do you have to set rules to stay offline? It becomes addictive for some people.

I wear a BlackBerry on my hip. I like to be on the grid.

Do you ever put the BlackBerry down?

I have no problem turning it off after about 10 at night. And I have a number of hobbies.

Like what?

I’m a DJ. I play new dance music, often referred to as techno or house music. I have a radio show on Sirius on Sunday nights: Jefr Tale. I also go to Burning Man. If you go to myspace.com/rootsociety, that is my camp. I run one of the biggest theme camps.

OK, I feel better now. I was worried that you spent way too much time in the basement e-mailing people.

I mean, if you look at my history, I’m on a couple boards. I’m on the board of the Citi Performing Arts Center. I am on the board of advisers at Berklee. I collect Shelby Mustangs from mid ’65 to 1970. And I am very active in Guatemala. In a village there, I helped them build some roads. You don’t have to worry about me.

Yahoo! continued Wednesday to refuse e-mail access to a Michigan father of a Marine killed in Iraq early last month.

The family of Justin Ellsworth, 20, is trying to gain access to the e-mail before the Yahoo! account is erased at the end of next month due to the company’s policy of deactivating unused accounts after 90 days.

At issue is the fact that the family does not have Justin’s password for the account. Yahoo! cites its privacy policy as the reason why they continue to refuse access.Support is coming in from all over the country, ranging from online petitions to forensic computer efforts offering free help to break into the account, however.

“It’s an overwhelming response,” John Ellsworth, Justin’s father told reporters. “Things are really moving. I’m very encouraged by it all, but I still have my reservations.”

According to one television report, the family plans to file a legal injunction shortly to prevent Yahoo! from deactivating the account.

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We understand some of the protections that Yahoo is claiming, but at the same time, what if Justin had given the rights to his account to his family?  What if he was able to send messages that he was hoping to send before he died?  Well, WhenILeave.com will aim to do that.

Obviously, this would be incredibly stupid to prevent someone from being able to tell their loved ones their wishes and hopes especially if they died in the very dangerous military.  Can you imagine a soldier not being able to tell their mother “I love you” one last time before they were shot by accidental enemy fire?  How about not being able to tell your young wife that there was an account that was suppose to be a surprise for her and the daughter that was born just a few weeks ago — and then accidentally dying in a helicopter crash? 

With WhenIleave.com, at least the communication is DURING the time of the military event that occurs, if they are worried about sensitive information being leaked to the enemy.  Also, the military could obviously approve these messages identifying that the soldier was simply trying to express their love to their family.

Our goals are to literally just to provide a vehicle to help people message each other to fulfill their last wishes.

His legacy lives on with videos online and many messages written in the media.  Also, we’re sure he’s said many things to his family because he really did try to live out his life as fully as possible.  However, if he didn’t tell his daughter Chloe something that perhaps would of guided her in her future years, we wonder if that would of been something he would of regretted.  Perhaps he didn’t even have time to think about it.

Features like being able to tell your children what you think might be good advice when they grow older would be on WhenIleave.com  The ability to communicate literally for the many years of their lives could be passed on despite people physically not being in this world.

We can’t predict the ending of our lives, but we can plan for our loved ones’ futures.  We hope we can some day be able to love well beyond our years.