Jane Goodall, frequent Boulder visitor, dies at 91
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Jane Goodall kisses a crabapple tree she helped plant with students in Gombe Grove at Horizons K-8 School in Boulder on Oct. 1, 2015. Photo: David Jennings/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images
Jane Goodall, the famed primatologist and a frequent visitor to Boulder, has died at the age of 91.
The latest: The Jane Goodall Institute announced in an Instagram post the primatologist died Wednesday of natural causes while in California on a U.S. speaking tour.
Flashback: Goodall is best known for her studies of chimpanzees while living amongst them in Africa in the 1960s.
- In her later years, Goodall spent much of her time traveling and advocating for environmental and humanitarian causes.
Zoom in: Goodall made frequent stops in Boulder, partly due to her ties with Marc Bekoff, a University of Colorado Boulder professor emeritus and frequent Goodall collaborator.
- Goodall visited Whittier Elementary in 2013, and in 2015 sold out the CU Events Center and planted trees with students on the same day. As recently as 2023, she visited Boulder's Macintosh Academy.
- She even spoke to inmates at the Boulder County Jail who were part of one of Goodall's Roots and Shoots program, run by Bekoff.
- Goodall also once taught an online course at CU.
CU Boulder posted a video of Goodall's 2015 speech at the university, adding, "We aim to honor her life and legacy with our commitment to creating global sustainability impact."
What she said: "You're lucky," Goodall told students at the University of Colorado. "You live in Boulder, where there really is concern for the environment. Where wonderful things are happening. We want that to spread around the world."
