Jane Goodall’s passing at 91 has drawn tributes that match the scale of her influence. The Jane Goodall Institute said she died of natural causes while on a speaking tour in California, closing a life that reshaped how the world understands chimpanzees—and, by extension, itself. Over six decades from Gombe to global stages, she revealed rich social lives among chimpanzees, documented tool use and alliances, and turned careful observation into a conservation movement that inspired scientists, students, and heads of state.
Her work never stopped at the forest edge. Goodall often spoke about human behavior with the same clarity she brought to primates. During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, she drew a pointed comparison between Donald Trump’s rallies and the dominance rituals she had watched among male chimpanzees—dramatic displays meant to project strength and intimidate rivals. Years later, when an MSNBC host replayed clips of Trump hugging the American flag and boasting about being a “perfect physical specimen,” she doubled down with a light laugh, saying the swagger and posturing looked familiar to anyone who had studied males competing for status.
Even while making such barbed observations, she kept her focus on something larger: the cost of division and the urgency of shared responsibility. She lamented the widening rifts in American public life and the ripple effects those fractures can send through the world—a theme consistent with her lifelong message that what we do to ecosystems, animals, and one another is inseparable.
The outlines of her legacy are unmistakable: a scientist who changed a field, a communicator who brought distant forests into living rooms, and a moral voice who insisted that understanding carries obligations. In remembering her, people are celebrating not only the discoveries that transformed primatology but also the stubborn hope that fueled her calls for compassion, measured judgment, and common purpose.
