Overview

• The institute announced that Goodall died Wednesday in California of natural causes while traveling in the United States for a series of talks.
• The United Nations mourned her passing in an official message, noting her service as a UN Messenger of Peace and her global impact.
• Her six-decade study at Gombe in Tanzania documented tool making, hunting and complex social behavior among wild chimpanzees, reshaping modern primatology.
• She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and launched Roots & Shoots, programs that continue to support research, conservation and youth leadership worldwide.
• A widely honored public figure, she received the 2025 U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and maintained an intensive schedule of international speaking into her nineties.