Famed Conservationist Jane Goodall Dies At Age 91
on Oct 01, 2025
Jane Goodall, the world-renowned conservationist and primatologist, known for her decades of groundbreaking research on chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, has died at the age of 91.
The news of her passing was confirmed on Wednesday, October 1, in a statement released by the Jane Goodall Institute. Her death has been attributed to natural causes. At the time of her passing, she was on a speaking tour in California.
“The Jane Goodall Institute has learned this morning, Wednesday, October 1, 2025, that Dr. Jane Goodall DBE, UN Messenger of Peace and Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute has passed away due to natural causes,” the statement read. “She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States.”
“Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.”
About Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall had a passion for animals from a very young age. Her first connection to wildlife began when her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee instead of a typical teddy bear. Her love for animals only grew as she read books like Dr. Doolittle and Tarzan.
Goodall began her groundbreaking research on wild chimpanzees in the 1960s, starting her studies in Tanzania at just 26 years old.
At the time, very little was known about the species, but thanks to Goodall’s 60 years of research, we now understand much more about them and how closely they resemble humans.
By living among the chimpanzees, she discovered that they use tools and have distinct personalities, much like we do. This is considered one of the greatest achievements in science of the 20th century.
In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute in an effort to “promote understanding and protection of great apes and their habitat” and to “inspire individual action by young people of all ages to help animals, other people, and to protect the world we all share.”
She is survived by her son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, and her two grandchildren.
