Jane Goodall
1934-2025
January 7, 2026
When I learned of Jane Goodall’s passing, I found myself pausing, not out of surprise, but out of reverence. Some lives feel so expansive that they seem to exist beyond time. As a renowned primatologist and conservationist, Goodall was one of those rare individuals whose work reshaped not only what we know, but how we know it, and the process by which we gained it.
Goodall arrived in the forests of Gombe, Tanzania in 1960 without the traditional academic credentials that field scientists typically possessed when embarking on a research career. She was not formally trained as a primatologist, and at the time, that fact alone caused many in the scientific community to dismiss her. Yet it was precisely her unconventional background that made her an outsider to the scientific world, that allowed her to become an insider with the chimpanzee community. Free from rigid frameworks and inherited assumptions, she approached chimpanzees not as data points, but as living beings worthy of patience, observation, and respect.
At the age of 29, during the summer of 1963, National Geographic magazine published Goodall’s 7,500-word, 37-page account of the lives of primates she had observed in the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in what is now Tanzania. What Goodall discovered changed science forever.
She documented chimpanzees as they made and used tools in their everyday lives. For instance, she watched as chimps used sticks, rocks or leaves as tools to extract termites from a mound to eat for supper. And speaking of food—her research also proved that chimps were not vegetarians as many animal experts believed, but avid meat-eaters. These observations that directly contradicted long-held beliefs, like toolmaking being uniquely human, forced scientists to redefine humanity. It led to fieldwork that shows other primates and species of birds also use tools in their daily life to make tasks easier, such as obtaining food.
Equally groundbreaking was her insistence on naming the chimpanzees that she studied. Her journal did not identify chimps as numbers or letters, but as David Greybeard, Flo, Fifi, and Flint. Her choice to use names to identify the chimpanzees was controversial, criticized as unscientific and overly emotional. Yet, by forming bonds with the animals she studied, Goodall revealed the emotional depth of chimpanzee society: maternal devotion, childhood playfulness, grief, jealousy, and loss. She showed us that the line between humans and animals is far thinner than we once believed.
I often wonder if these discoveries would have been possible if Jane Goodall had followed a traditional academic path. Would she have been taught to keep her distance? To quantify rather than connect? To overlook nuance in favor of established theory? Her work suggests that sometimes training can quietly narrow our field of vision.
That lesson reaches far beyond primatology. As an academic professor, I take it as a lesson for the classroom. One of my favorite aspects of my classes is informing my students that in business, leadership, and life in general, complacency can become a blindfold. When we rely too heavily on “best practices” and precedent, we risk missing entirely new possibilities. Innovation rarely comes from doing things the accepted way. It comes from curiosity, courage, and the willingness to question what others take for granted. Innovation lives just beyond convention.
Goodall’s legacy reminds us that progress often begins with someone brave enough to step off the paved road. Someone willing to sit longer, watch closer, and consider a different tactic, even when it means challenging consensus. Her impact extended far beyond research. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which transformed her scientific insights into a global force for conservation, education, and community-centered environmental stewardship. She became one of the world’s most influential voices for environmental protection, advocating tirelessly for chimpanzees, forests, and sustainable living.
Goodall’s life work earned her global recognition, including being named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, receiving the Templeton Prize, and being honored with numerous international awards for science and conservation. Yet she remained remarkably humble, often redirecting praise back to the chimpanzees who taught her so much.
I imagine what it would have been like to sit beside Goodall in the jungles of Africa. The quiet broken only by rustling leaves. Catching her smile softly as a chimp named Fifi climbs nearby. I imagine her pointing out to me a small interaction I might have missed and realizing how extraordinary it would be to witness the world through her eyes.
Though Jane Goodall has departed this world, her way of seeing, observing, and studying lives on. Because of her, we are reminded that sometimes the most profound discoveries happen when we dare to look differently and create our own path forward.
Dearly Departed profiles are the musings of SC Innovates’ Director and SmartState Endowed Chair Laura B. Cardinal. Cardinal is an academic researcher and teaches Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation at the University of South Carolina (USC) Darla Moore School of Business Professional MBA program. Her series of courses includes the Strategic Innovation Certificate. Cardinal’s courses offer a unique fusion of innovation, business strategy, science, and technology.