About This Site

In early 2016, it became clear to those closest to Rob Ford that his cancer was advancing rapidly. Friends, family, and thousands of Torontonians wanted a way to send their best wishes. Hospital rules made visits difficult. Cards and flowers piled up faster than they could be read.

This website was put together on a weekend in March 2016 by a small group of volunteers who had worked with the Ford family over the years. The premise was simple: one public page, one comment box, one instruction — leave a message. No sign-up, no account, no politics. Just a note.

How it Worked

Within 48 hours of launch, word had spread through local radio, community Facebook groups, and the Toronto Sun. The server crashed twice in the first week. We moved to a larger plan and kept going.

In total, we received several thousand messages over March and April 2016. The majority were moderated in under an hour — long enough to filter spam, fast enough that people watching the page in real time could see fresh notes appear beside their own.

Preservation

After Rob’s passing on March 22, 2016, the family asked that the messages remain online, unchanged, as a public record. This current version is a static archive. We have kept the original typography and layout as faithfully as we could given the years that have passed and the shifts in underlying web technology.

Who Built This

The site was built and maintained by a small rotating group of family friends and one volunteer web developer. We take no donations, run no ads, and collect no data. If something on the archive appears broken, a message through the contact link will reach a real person.

Contact

For media inquiries regarding the Ford family or this archive, please write to the family through their published channels. Personal tributes can still be shared through the messages already archived here — they continue to be read.