Famed Primatologist Jane Goodall Dies at Age 91, Shortly Before She Was to Speak at Pasadena School

Famed primatologist and environmental champion Jane Goodall, who changed our understanding of the animal kingdom through her groundbreaking chimpanzee research, has died at age 91, the institute she founded announced Wednesday — the day she was set to speak to Pasadena school students.

According to the Jane Goodall Institute, she “passed away due to natural causes” at age 91.

“She was in California as part of her speaking tour in the United States,” according to a statement posted on social media Wednesday by the Jane Goodall Institute.

Goodall had been scheduled to speak at a late-morning event Wednesday at EF Academy in Pasadena to announce a student-led effort to plant more than 5,000 trees in the fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena communities over the next three to five years. The effort, known as TREEAMS, was a partnership including EF Academy Pasadena, Saint Mark’s School in Altadena and dozens of other schools, along with organizations such as UCLA School of Education, SoLa Foundation and EcoRise.

“I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. I just talked to her on the phone a few hours ago,” said longtime associate Margarita Pagliai, head of school for Seven Arrows Elementary School and Little Dolphins Pre-School in Santa Monica, who was at the Pasadena event.

Pagliai was preparing to introduce Goodall at the tree planting event just before Erin McCombs, a representative of the Jane Goodall Institute, announced her passing.

“She will always be here with us, and she wouldn’t want us to cry,” said Pagliai.

The event announcing the tree-planting effort went on as scheduled without Goodall. Erin McCombs of the Jane Goodall Institute spoke on her behalf. Event organizers also showed a video in Goodall’s memory, which was filmed in 2015 at the EF Global Student Leaders Summit in Costa Rica.

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Pasadena City Councilmember Rick Cole sadly joined EF Academy and other local school leaders to plant the first in the main lawn at the school campus, as a representative of the Gabrielino Tribe sang a native song welcoming Goodall “back to her ancestors.

In a prepared statement issued before the event, Goodall said, “The TREEAMS movement represents the very best of what young people can achieve when they come together with courage and compassion. By planting trees, they are helping restore ecosystems, combat climate change, and bring healing to communities in need.”

Shawna Marino, vice president of EF Academy, told Pasadena Now in an email the tree-planting program “is an important part of (Goodall’s) incredible legacy.”

Goodall, a lifelong advocate for the protection of endangered species, is best known for immersing herself into the habitat of chimps in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park in the 1960s, documenting the personalities of individual chimpanzees and their human-like characteristics.

Only in her 20s at the time, Goodall gained fame for the close relationship she formed with the chimps she was studying, even finding herself accepted as a member of a particular group of the animals for nearly two years.

In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, a nonprofit organization that “empowers people to make a difference for all living things.”

In 1991, she worked with a group of students in Tanzania to form Roots & Shoots, which is the Institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth program.

“Through nearly 60 years of groundbreaking work, Dr. Jane Goodall has not only shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction; she has also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment,” according to the Institute.

Her discovery during her time in Tanzania that chimpanzees make and use tools “is considered one of the greatest achievements of 20th Century scholarship,” according to the Institute’s website.

“Her field research at Gombe transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.”

Goodall received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from then-President Joe Biden in January.

“This recognition reflects the hope and action of so many people who inspire and motivate me every day in the firm belief that together we can and we must save the natural world for ourselves and future generations,” Goodall said in a statement when the honor was announced.

Other honors she collected in her lifetime include being a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the French Legion d’honneur, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, Japan’s Kyoto Prize and the Ghandi- King Award for Nonviolence.

Goodall was the grand marshal of the 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade.

“Jane Goodall was a global legend — a woman known for her extraordinary empathy and her remarkable intellect,” Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom said in a joint statement. “She stood at the forefront of discovery, breaking through barriers for women in primatology, in science, and beyond. Jane’s curiosity, strength, and kindness changed the world, and inspired countless people and bridged countries and cultures in pursuit of a better future. To us she was a towering inspiration, and a cherished friend. Her commitment to animals, the environment, and the world as a whole, led her to found institutions and programs that will carry on her legacy for decades.”

Goodall was born in London on April 3, 1934, and became fascinated by animals as a child by reading stories such as Tarzan and Dr. Doolittle. Her prized possession as a child was a stuffed toy chimpanzee named Jubilee. Goodall’s mother once said she found her daughter at a young age lying in bed with a group of earthworms, trying to learn how they were able to move without legs. She also once hid in a henhouse for several hours so she could watch a hen lay an egg.

At the invitation of a friend, she traveled to Kenya in 1957 and met paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey, and it was under his tutelage that Goodall began her study of chimps in Tanzania.

The Jane Goodall Institute has two dozen locations around the world, continuing her groundbreaking chimpanzee research and conservation efforts.

Despite her age, Goodall continued to travel roughly 300 days per year. She wrote nearly 30 books for adults and children, including her latest work, “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times.”

“Throughout her life and remarkable career, Jane inspired generations of scientists, brought hope to countless people from all walks of life, and urged us all to remember that `every single one of us makes a difference every day — it is up to us as to the kind of difference we make,”‘ according to the Institute.

Goodall was first married to Hugo van Lawick, a Dutch baron and National Geographic wildlife photographer. The couple divorced in 1974. She later married Derek Bryceson, a member of Tanzania’s parliament and a former director of the country’s national parks. He died in 1980.

Goodall is survived by her son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, and her three grandchildren, Merlin, Angel, and Nick, as well as her sister Judy.