My Turn: A tribute to Jane Goodall

(Editor’s note: the piece below is a tribute posted on the Facebook page of Lincoln author Ruth Mendelson plus a postscript and is republished here with her permission. Goodall died on October 1, 2025 at age 91.)

Dr. Jane has been far more than a friend and colleague over the past 23 years. What a blessing to love and be loved by a true human being. Each time Dr. Jane came into town, it meant joy and celebration. She always made a point to contact me ahead of time so we could hang out privately. We would sit on the floor wherever she was staying and talk deep into the night, not bothering to turn the lights on after sunset. Just whispering together throughout the night, sharing about life, vast expanses of inner and outer space, dreams, adventures, purpose and upcoming projects.

Dr. Jane’s life was not glamorous. She was ALWAYS working for the benefit of the planet. She was the first one to get up and the last one to go to bed. She was a living nomad who subsisted out of one small suitcase, traveling 300 days a year in service to our planet and the human condition. She lived incredibly simply, and would make her morning toast using an iron from her hotel room. The only interruption to her travel schedule was covid. And during that time, she was busier than ever — constantly in Zoom meetings and recording interviews, literally 14 hours a day. Her voice often threatened to go out during that time, but she’d continue with the rigorous routine regardless.

People know her for her wonderful work with chimps, but Dr. Jane worked tirelessly for ALL beings on our planet to eradicate poverty, homelessness, disease, plastics — the list goes on and on. She worked with refugees, was constantly meeting with world leaders to improve environmental and social policies, and always made time for children and those afflicted with illness.

Part of Dr. Jane’s rocket fuel came in the form of working with children and youth. Her global youth initiative, Roots & Shoots, was her pride and Joy. I encourage anyone reading this to please check this out for yourself and your local community. 

Amidst the seriousness of the conditions she worked tirelessly to address, Dr. Jane was also FUN! She was a living Dr. Doolittle. She really DID speak animal — I mean with ALL animals. Just extraordinary. I’d like to note here that Dr. Jane often told me that hyenas are completely misunderstood, misrepresented — that they are in fact very loving and affectionate (she spent a lot of time with them in her earlier years). I got her hyena socks one year for Christmas and she was OVER THE MOON!

Dr. Jane was mischievous, bold in her compassion, gentle yet direct, extraordinarily courageous, uniquely resilient, magical, unrelenting and wise. And she was true to the beauty of her purpose to the very end.

Thank you, Dr. Jane, for everything — including being a treasured role model for the whole wide world. Amidst the torrential grief I’m wading through right now, I know I’ll emerge from this with a cleansed and renewed commitment to our beautiful planet and all life upon her. Together we CAN, together we MUST, together we WILL.

Postscript: 

Many people have asked me how we met. Dr. Jane and I first crossed paths in 2002 at the United Nations in Geneva, where I was performing as a bassist with the One Human Family Gospel Choir (we were opening for an international peace summit). Actually, Dr. Jane noticed me first due to a series of hilariously awful events. Sometimes the wrong thing happens in the right way — revealing the very magic of the universe at work. Here’s what happened:

First, my bass was lost at the airport in London (we were playing at the UN the next day). Because of this, I stayed at the airport for hours filling out paperwork and caught a later shuttle to my hotel. My seatmate just happened to be Dr. Jane’s assistant. We had a lovely conversation about life and purpose.

My bass arrived the next day, but then the electricity went out during sound check at the UN. The power came back on right before we performed. There on stage without a sound check (every musician’s nightmare), I shut eyes and hoped for the best. While playing with my eyes closed, my amplifier somehow got turned around and rolled in front of me. So I tried to nonchalantly kick the amp back into position while continuing to play. Dr. Jane (in the audience) smiled as she watched the sideshow, and asked her assistant the name of the musician who was awkwardly dancing with her amplifier. 

Later that day, I saw Dr. Jane descending a flight of stairs and introduced myself. Dr. Jane smiled warmly, said her assistant had told her all about me, and asked me to carry her purse. And that was it — instant connection! We walked arm-in-arm to a workshop Dr. Jane was hosting and have been doing humanitarian and creative projects together ever since — especially projects serving children and youth. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of composing many soundtracks for Dr. Jane’s films and her wonderful podcast series Hopecast, and have served as producer and composer for her updated audiobook, “My Life With the Chimpanzees,” etc.

Dr. Jane wrote the foreword for my novel, “The Water Tree Way.” She even offered to make a brief personal home video about the book because she believed in it so much. That’s how generous she was — even with her nonstop schedule, Dr. Jane was never too busy to express love and care. “The Water Tree Way” is a story about the triumph of the human spirit. The book invites all of us to delve into the most magnificent, mysterious, magical, and necessary of places: inside our very own selves. Dr. Jane’s foreword is precious. I am forever grateful for my beautiful soul friend.