Goodbye, Jane Goodall
Goodbye, Jane Goodall
4/3/1934-10/1/2025
By D.S. Mitchell
The world has lost a guiding light. Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall has died at the age of 91. Ms Goodall was still speaking, touring, and offering hope for not only the animals of the world, but humanity when she died of natural causes, October 1st, 2025, while in Los Angeles, CA, on a speaking tour.
Her discoveries while living with the chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania transformed how the world perceived not only human’s closest living biological relatives, but also the emotional and social complexity of all animals, while propelling Ms. Goodall into the public consciousness.
Goodall was an English primatologist and anthropologist. She was a recognized pioneer in primate research. She was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania. Jane Goodall documented her observations, describing their use of tools and their distinct personalities. Goodall observed and reported them doing activities previously believed to be exclusive to humans.
Goodall was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of the natural world. The soft spoken intellectual and conservationist transcended generations with her appearances beginning in the 1960’s in documentaries, books, magazines, and public appearances before packed auditoriums until the day she died.
