Memorial service at U of T honours Goodall’s legacy
This article was written by Daysha Loppie and was published in the Toronto Star on November 23, 2025.
“The world will never see another Jane Goodall,” Bella Lam, CEO of the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, told about 1,500 people gathered at a memorial service Saturday for the late British conservationist and researcher.
Goodall, renowned for her work with chimpanzees, died in her sleep of natural causes at age 91 last month. The 2 p.m. memorial, at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto, was held by the Canadian chapter of the global nonprofit organization founded in 1977.
The service opened with a cello performance of “Ave Maria,” followed by Lam’s introductory remarks, which included a synopsis of Goodall’s life from her birth in 1934 to her time studying wildlife in Africa, and her groundbreaking discovery that chimpanzees make and use tools. “It’s her stories that brought all of us together here today,” said Lam. “It’s her stories that continue to give us hope.”
Lam also spoke about Goodall’s extensive list of achievements, including the honorary doctorates she received from various Canadian postsecondary institutions, including University of Toronto.
Cofounders Bangishimo and Amy Smoke of the Willow River Centre in Waterloo, which Goodall visited just last year, took the stage to talk about how the conservationist’s work as a storyteller connected to Indigenous ways of viewing nature.
Maddie Resmer, who also worked at the Willow River Centre, said Goodall’s work was a reminder that “every being carries their own story.” The trio finished their speech by singing a Mowhak friendship song.
“I think (Goodall) would’ve loved this,” said media personality George Stroumboulopoulos during his speech to the audience.
He described Goodall as kind and mischievous as he shared personal anecdotes. He spoke of their last conversation together, where Goodall affirmed a young child’s dream to be a biologist.
“People like Jane don’t just teach us things, they change us,” said Stroumboulopoulos. “You will be eternally missed.”
Chloë Chang, a conversation biologist and current board member of Jane Goodall Institute of Canada, said the British environmentalist’s impact on her life was immeasurable. She met Goodall when she visited Toronto before her death.
“I’ve never known a world without Jane,” said Chang. “I don’t think I ever will — because we all carry Jane.”
It’s a message that was echoed by Merwin van Lawick, Goodall’s grandson, in a video he recorded for the memorial service.
“You were a messenger, dear beloved,” he added.
Afterward, Canadian singer and songwriter Jann Arden, accompanied by Graham Powell on guitar, took to the stage to perform “Good Mother” and share her own personal reflections on Goodall’s life.
Lam closed out the memorial with messages of gratitude and a few final words.
“The last words belong to Jane,” said Lam “`Together, we can. Together, we will. Together we must — change the world.’”
This article was written by Benji Jones and was published in Canada’s National Observer on October 9, 2025.
Jane Goodall poses with “Mister H,” a stuffed animal mascot she often brings to her speaking engagements. Photo by Getty Images/VoxListen to article
This story was originally published by Vox and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration
Jane Goodall, one of the most influential environmental figures in human history, has died at 91 while doing what she’s done for most of her later years — touring the country to deliver an urgent message about nature and human existence.
Goodall, who revolutionized what we know about chimpanzees and animal intelligence, was interviewed as recently as last week, during New York City Climate Week. And her message was clear, consistent and timely.
“It seems these days everybody is so involved with technology that we forget that we’re not only part of the natural world, we’re an animal like all the others,” Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a conservation group, said last week during the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in NYC. “We’re an animal like all the others. But we depend on it for clean air, water, food, clothing — everything.”
And yet — “We’re destroying the planet,” she said.
In a separate conversation with the Wall Street Journal last week, Goodall said the problem is the pernicious idea that economic development should come before the environment. In reality, we’re on a planet with finite resources and, if we exhaust them, it could spell our own end. “Humans are not exempt from extinction,” Goodall said in the Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal.
One of the most compelling messages from her last interviews is that while we’re the most “intellectual animals” to ever walk the planet, “we’re not intelligent,” said Goodall, who’s an expert in animal behavior. “Because intelligent creatures don’t destroy their only home.”
Ultimately, she said, it’s that intellect that gives us the best shot at saving ourselves and the planet. That’s what’s ushered in solutions to living in greater harmony with the natural world, Goodall said, including renewable energy and plant-based foods. She emphasized that we know what’s killing the planet: industrial agriculture — including livestock — and burning fossil fuels.
In reality, we’re on a planet with finite resources and, if we exhaust them, it could spell our own end. “Humans are not exempt from extinction,” Goodall said in the Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal.
“We have a window of time,” Goodall, who’s authored more than two dozen books, said in The Journal. “But it’s not a very big window. If we don’t change the way we do things, the way we develop economically, then it will be too late.”
This article was written by Ann Hui and was published in the Globe & Mail on November 30, 2024.
Left: Goodall and infant chimpanzee Flint reach out to touch each other’s hands in 1964 at Gombe National Park in Tanzania.
Ever since her seminal work on the social lives of chimpanzees was published, she’s had a complicated relationship with the spotlight
Jane Goodall was sitting in a chair, looking glum. It was early afternoon at a Toronto hotel and a photographer was shooting her portrait, directing her to look this way and that under the glare of a large light. Goodall was co-operating, albeit reluctantly. Her chin was in her palm, like a child in the midst of a punishment. She hates – hates – to be photographed.
Would she try a few shots with her jacket off? Goodall let out a long sigh and let her green puffer slump to the floor. “I don’t care,” she said miserably. “I just want it to be over with.”
It’s not the Jane Goodall you expect. In most corners, hers is a name that carries with it saintlike status – a name evocative of trees being planted and chimpanzees being cuddled, of kindness and goodwill. And for the past 60-plus years, ever since her seminal work detailing the social lives of chimpanzees was published in National Geographic, Goodall has been a household name. The 90-yearold has been famous for entire lifetimes – for so long that most people can’t remember when she wasn’t a household name.
Despite living a very public life, she still has a complicated relationship with the spotlight. “I didn’t choose this,” she said, gesturing at the camera and the publicists around her. She was in Toronto ahead of a speech she would deliver the next day at a 2,000-seat concert hall in Kitchener, Ont.
“The first time I was walking in the street and was recognized, I was so horrified,” she said. “I hated it. I tried to hide from journalists.”
So how did she wind up being here? She has a few different versions of that story.
Sometimes, Goodall begins the tale at the age of 1, in London, England. That’s when her father gave her a stuffed chimpanzee – a toy she named Jubilee. (It now tours in a bulletproof box, looked after by the National Geographic Society.)
Other times, she’ll begin the story at the age of 23, when she first travelled to Kenya and met the archeologist Louis Leaky. It was Leaky who encouraged her – despite her lack of scientific training – to go to Tanzania to study primate behaviour.
Goodall’s work at Gombe National Park would redefine our understanding of humans in relation to the world around us. Before Goodall, scientists were convinced that humans were distinct in our abilities. Her work showed that in many cases animals not only matched our physical abilities, but our social ones, too: They formed bonds, and displayed personalities and emotions.
“We’d been very, very arrogant,” she said. Other times still, Goodall begins her story in 1986. That’s when she learned, at a conference in Chicago, about the effect deforestation was having on chimpanzee populations. It’s also where she first saw images of animal testing in laboratories, and the cruelty inflicted upon the great apes in captivity.
“I went to that conference as a scientist, and left as an activist,” she said. “I just had to try and do something.”
That’s around the time when Goodall’s perspective on fame began to shift.
“I realized that, if I want to make a difference – if I want to help people understand the urgency with which we need to protect chimpanzees and the environment – then I must make use of this fame.”
There’s also the fact that people just really like seeing her. The day before, she was recognized while waiting in a customs line at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Parents and kids alike crowded around, wanting photographs.
“It makes people so happy,” she said. “If just seeing me can make people happy, what nicer thing can you do?”
These days, Goodall tours, on average, 300 days out of the year. Most of it is on behalf of her foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute, which runs programs aimed at wildlife conservation and environmental preservation. She’s also an outspoken advocate for action on climate change.
This year, her tour is an extended celebration of her 90th birthday. Before Toronto, she had made appearances in Tampa Bay, Fla., and in Los Angeles (including an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert). After Canada, she flew to Paris, where she delivered a speech at UNESCO’s headquarters. Even after all these years, everyone still wants a piece of her.
By Goodall’s own estimation, she’s had at least 30 birthday cakes since her actual birthday back in April. “Luckily, I don’t have to eat them all.”
Resting beside her at the Toronto hotel was a cardboard sign that she had been carrying around on her tour. It had the words “Vote for Nature” written across it in what looked to be black Sharpie.
Richard Branson had held it up in a selfie during her stops in Los Angeles, she said. So, too, did Hillary Clinton and Prince Harry. “Leonardo DiCaprio – his mother – held up the sign.”
This was ahead of the U.S. election, and she wanted to remind people that the only way to see real change is to vote.
“So many people are fed up with politicians, so they don’t bother to vote,” she said. (During her appearance on Colbert’s show, she drew a comparison between the chimpanzees she has studied with today’s lawmakers. “When you see two males competing for dominance, they stand upright, they swagger and have a furious face and shake their fists. Doesn’t that remind you of some male politicians?”)
Given the urgency of the climate crisis, she said, there’s no excuse not to participate. “We’re in a very, very crucial time. So look at the two candidates and find out which one is most likely to have some kind of environmental program to save the environment.”
And though Ms. Goodall doesn’t endorse specific candidates, she does make her position on certain issues known. She’s not an advocate of carbon taxes, for example. “In the long term,” she said, “all it does is encourage the big corporations to go on putting CO2 in the atmosphere, so it’s carrying on with business as usual.”
Of course, it’s owing to her fame that she’s able to broadcast her message.
So has she enjoyed any part of her birthday tour? She grimaced. “It’s been total hell,” she deadpanned.
But then she reconsidered. There was one stop, in California, where she was surprised on a beach with 90 dogs to mark her 90th birthday. “I really, really enjoyed it.”
Though her name will forever be associated with chimps, Goodall’s favourite animals are actually dogs. She grew up with one (a black-and-white mixed breed named Rusty), and there’s always a dog to visit with when she returns to the home she shares with her sister in England.
As the interview wound down, her mood visibly relaxed. She was looking forward to a bit of rest, some space to relax before her speech the next day. Not without finishing the job first, however. She reiterated the importance of voting, and of individual action. If we lose hope, she said, we’re doomed.
“The message is this,” she said, slowing her words to make sure each one was coming across. “Every one of us makes an impact every day. We get to choose what sort of impact.”
With the interview over, one of the publicists leaned over to make a confession: Unbeknownst to Goodall, there was yet another photographer waiting upstairs. Yet another photo shoot.
The publicist whispered this warily, watching as Goodall stood up to leave.
But before anyone could say anything else, Goodall stopped. She turned around and looked at the people behind her. “Would either of you like a photo?”
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