Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall (April 1934 – 1 October 2025) was an English primatologist and anthropologist. She is regarded as a pioneer in primate ethologist and described by many as the world’s preeminent chimpanzee expert. She was best known for more than six decades of field research on the social and family life of wild chimpanzees in the Kasakela chimpanzee community at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, and for establishing wildlife sanctuaries and reforestation projects in Africa.
The sadness across the world at this saintly women’s death, speaks not only to her work, but also to her inner beauty. Her organisation, the Jane Goodall Institute, said in a statement on social media, that “Dr. Goodall’s discoveries as an ethologist revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world.” We Orthodox like so many, can add something more personal. I met her at the Houses of Parliament when supporting the campaign of Edwardo Gonzalas eduardo@bantrophyhunting.org and the All-Party Bill that we all hoped would ban the importation of hunting trophies. My top photo, shows Dr Jane speaking at this meeting and Edwardo seated and to the right. My other photo, is H.A.H. speaking at the 2022 Halki Theological School conference on Animal Welfare, Ethics and the Law, and I will speak to their long-lasting friendship presently.
Four decades earlier, she had changed what I taught my science students, and how I viewed what science had to say about animals ever since. She found, for example, that Chimpanzees are omnivorous, not vegetarian; that they are capable of making and using tools; and, in short, that they are sentient beings who have a set of hitherto unrecognized complex and highly developed social behaviours. In 1965 she was awarded a PhD in ethology from the University of Cambridge. She wrote numerous books and articles about various aspects of her work, notably In the Shadow of Man (1971), and summarized her years of observation in The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (1986). In 2002 she became a UN Messenger of Peace, was the recipient of numerous honours over the years, one of which was becoming a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2003.
In 2012, Dr. Goodall was invited by His All-Holiness Bartholomew, to be one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural Halki Summit — the ecological conference series of the Ecumenical Patriarchate that succeeded the Halki Summer Seminars, and the International Symposia. There appears to be little available to us from that Summit except a post on her keynote speech by Nik Anton, which I have paraphrased here:
‘We had the pleasure this morning to be in the presence of greatness. Dr. Jane Goodall, in her soft-spoken manner shared with us her journey, her present efforts and hopes for the future…Most moving were her stories of the forest and the chimpanzees she came to know. How she was welcomed into the inner circle by David Greybeard – who allowed her to follow him one day through a bushel of thickets. As Jane appeared on the other side, he was waiting for her. She offered him a favoured food, but he denied it. In response, however, he reached for her hand and held it as if to say – thank you…She reminisced about an afternoon on her veranda in Dar es Salaam when twelve young Tanzanian girls shared their concerns about the state of their environment. They had asked Jane to help them, yet Jane’s reply was to challenge them on what they could do to make change. The result of this afternoon was the start of Jane’s most successful education program Roots and Shoots; now in over 130 countries.’
Nik informs us that after they had taken a tour of the Halki School of Theology, they were to head back to the hotel on one of the horse-drawn carriages, however she refused: “No”, Jane said, “I could not bear to put those poor creatures through any more misery then what they are already exposed to.” He explained that there are no cars allowed on the island, so horse and carriage provided the only transport, yet even this type of alternative transport was not acceptable as it was at the cost of another living being. This was also my concern when I was invited there by His All-Holiness in 2022, to give a presentation to him and members of the Orthodox clergy, specifically relating to the inclusion of Creation Care into Orthodox seminary and academic courses. Thankfully by then horse-drawn carriages had been replaced by small vehicles. Nik marvels that such an icon can be so humble and so effective, and this was my own impression of her, noted above, when we met in the Houses of Parliament as part of our respective campaigns to rid the UK of the evil of trophy hunting, via a Bill to prevent the imports of trophies from this evil ‘sport’. He also informs us of her great wit and sense of humour as evidenced when she charmingly compared David Greybeard’s beard to that of His All-Holiness as he sat in the front row and a “truly a surreal moment for all those attending.”
Since that time, she remained a close friend and steadfast supporter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s environmental initiatives and our own work at Pan Orthodox Concern for Animals, for she like us, also campaigned for the ethical treatment of animals in animal husbandry and captivity. Whilst she served on the board of the Nonhuman Rights Project from 2022 until her death, we at POCA also worked closely with its founder Steve Wise, by writing Amici Curia briefs on their behalf for the Supreme Courts of America, in their campaigns to get Happy, Amahle, Nolwazi, and Mabu elephants, and other animals released from American Zoos and into sanctuaries. She was also against testing on animals, something we have fought tirelessly against for decades. She like us believe that God cares for all of his created beings, and that it is part of our duty as Image of God to protected them from all forms of harm as proclaimed in the Orthodox service Vespers for the Environment. More recently she was awarded the Templeton Prize (2021), the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication (2022), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2025) and lastly, she participated in the Templeton Prize ceremony in New York City earlier this year, where His All-Holiness was the honouree. She continued to write and lecture about environmental and conservation issues until her death in Los Angeles on October 1 at the age of 91. This day, was, as we saw by the outpouring of tributes from across the world, a very, very sad day for the creatures of this world.
Finally, in a short piece in the Orthodox Times we learn that upon hearing of the passing of Dame Jane Goodall, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew expressed his heartfelt condolences for the loss of an extraordinary advocate for the environment and a devoted messenger of peace throughout the world. See the link below for a wonderful photograph of them together at that ceremony Ecumenical Patriarch expressed condolences on the passing of Jane Goodall | Orthodox Times (en). I end this short but deeply respectful piece with their final quote:
Her compassion, humility, and tireless advocacy for all of creation — both human and animal — will continue to inspire all who care for the sustainability and survival of our planet.
Dr Christina Nellist, President Pan Orthodox Concern for Animals Charity. 12 Oct. 2025