Jane Goodall was 91 years old when she died in 2025. She died on October 1, 2025, in California while on a speaking tour in the United States.
Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, making her 91 at the time of her death. The Jane Goodall Institute said that she died of natural causes. Her death ended a career that had lasted more than six decades and made her one of the world’s most recognizable scientists and conservationists.
She began her pioneering chimpanzee research in 1960 at Gombe Stream in what is now Tanzania. Without a university degree at the start of that work, she documented chimpanzees using tools, forming complex social relationships, and displaying distinct personalities—observations that reshaped primatology.
Goodall remained active long after leaving full-time field research. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, became a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and traveled extensively to promote wildlife protection, environmental conservation, and youth activism through Roots & Shoots.