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This essay was written by Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., and Colorado’s First Gentleman, Marlon H. Reis.
Now more than ever, we must recognize that animals do matter. They are more than symbols of geographic and political divides. They deserve more out of life than to be casualties in our own failed efforts to coexist with one another, much less the natural world. Their worth is not a function of how “human” they look or act. And just as we appreciate individuality in people, so too must we value it in other animals.
On Oct. 1, 2025, Jane Goodall passed away. Marc has worked very closely with Jane for decades. Much of her amazing life is captured in Jane Goodall at 90: Celebrating an Astonishing Lifetime of Science, Advocacy, Humanitarianism, Hope, and Peace.
In our home state of Colorado, Governor Jared Polis immediately proclaimed Oct. 1, 2025, as Jane Goodall Day, in honor of her unrelenting and inspirational work in every corner of our magnificent planet.1 Here are some of our reflections on Dr. Goodall and the amazing legacy she leaves behind for others to follow. Her presence surely will be everlasting.
Marc: Jane’s pioneering research has set the agenda for more than 65 years of study on chimpanzees, other great apes, and countless other nonhuman animals. In November 1960, she observed the chimpanzee David Greybeard making and using a tool by stripping leaves from a straw stick to extract termites by inserting it into their mound. Her seminal observations of a nonhuman making and using a tool were met with skepticism by her colleagues until she showed them a video of this behavior. In response to this important discovery, palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey claimed, “Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.”
Jane also named the chimpanzees she observed, recognizing the importance of studying identified individuals and the value of each life and underscoring that each individual has a unique personality. She was strongly reprimanded by her colleagues, but she continued to do so. I was also told that naming animals is too subjective and would influence how data are interpreted and explained, and that individual differences in personalities simply amounted to “noise in the system” and are fraught with error. Large amounts of subsequent comparative research have shown how wrong our critics were.
In 2002, Jane and I published The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals We Love. At around that time, I also began working closely with her Roots and Shoots program. I fully share her firm belief that everyone can make a positive difference in the lives of other animals, including humans, and in saving their homes. On the personal side, Jane and I share a passion for good single malt scotch, and whenever we meet, I always bring a small flask of what she calls her “cough medicine.”
Marlon: I could hardly believe my ears when, in early 2023, Marc asked if I would like to meet Jane Goodall at her upcoming talk in Denver. My admiration and respect for animals go back as far as I can remember. And as a strong believer in the power of stories to change the world, I had long looked up to Goodall as an ambassador for the natural world with a unique talent for narrating her own story of passion and purpose. For most of us, unearthing the formative moments of our lives is a voyage into the vast and uncharted thicket of memories shaped and reshaped by time. Not so for Goodall, who cuts through the mist with ease, plucking out the befores and afters—vivid and fully formed—and weaving them together as if there’d been no dead ends, no wasted time, no fruitless pursuits. The prospect of meeting Goodall was a dream come true, and a gift I won’t ever forget. Marc even arranged for my husband, Governor Jared Polis, and our two kids to attend her talk. For a few precious moments, before she went onstage, our children peppered her with questions about how she became the Jane Goodall.
In her work as both a scientist and a storyteller, Goodall has inspired and taught me so many things, but perhaps most importantly: the secret to a life well-lived is discovering what you truly care about—that which stirs the heart most—because doing what you love is never work. It is fulfillment. In stringing together the moments that mattered most throughout her remarkable 91 years on planet Earth, we come to learn not only that time is never wasted in pursuit of what is heartfelt, but that all life is interconnected, and we cannot tell the story of one without telling the story of the other.
Every life—human and nonhuman alike—is marked by beginnings, middles, and ends. The closer we look, the clearer it is to see that our fates are not solitary, but inseparable—a tapestry of lives that matter profoundly each to each.
Marc and Marlon: The world will sorely miss Jane Goodall and it’s essential that we all work together to keep her globally present radiant flame alive for all animals, people, and their shared homes. She was, and remains, a pillar of hope for a better and more humane world for all beings.
