Jane Goodall was still working and speaking around the world in her 90s. She died aged 91 in Los Angeles on October 1, 2025, while on a U.S. speaking tour. On the day she died, she had been scheduled to meet students and teachers for a Pasadena tree-planting event. The available record shows a life of continued work, not a formal retirement announcement—and her widely shared final message came from an interview recorded months before her death, not from her deathbed.
How Jane Goodall spent her final days
Goodall died peacefully in her sleep in Los Angeles, according to the Jane Goodall Institute’s announcement on October 1, 2025. She was 91 and in the United States for a speaking tour. The announcement establishes the date, place and tour context; it does not give a detailed itinerary of her final days or identify her last private conversation.
Her public schedule was still tied to conservation and education. The Associated Press reported that she had been due to meet students and teachers in Pasadena that day to launch a plan to plant 5,000 trees around wildfire burn zones in the Los Angeles area. It was a planned event, not a planting she personally completed. The AP also reported that Goodall traveled nearly 300 days a year for public speeches after turning 90; that is an approximate annual figure, not a count of her travel in 2025. (Associated Press obituary)
Did Jane Goodall retire?
The strongest evidence points to continued work rather than a formal retirement. In 2014, when she was 80, Goodall told the Associated Press that reaching that age was an incentive to keep working. Later, the AP described her extensive speaking travel after she turned 90. Neither source establishes a retirement date or a formal announcement that she would—or would not—retire.
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Her comments also reflected concern about what younger generations would inherit. In a 2021 interview quoted in TIME’s October 2, 2025 remembrance, Goodall said: “I’m about to leave the world and leave it behind me with all the mess, whereas young people have to grow up into it. That’s why they need every bit of help they can.” (TIME)
What was Jane Goodall’s final recorded message?
In March 2025, Goodall recorded an interview with Brad Falchuk for Netflix’s Famous Last Words. Netflix says the conversation was kept confidential and the footage held until after her death. Its closing address was presented as her final recorded public thoughts. Goodall said, “your life does matter, and that every single day you live, you make a difference in the world. And you get to choose the difference that you make.” (Netflix Tudum)
She also urged viewers: “Don’t lose hope. If you lose hope, you become apathetic and do nothing.” The Jane Goodall Institute UK’s memorial page includes the further line, “But if you have hope, you roll up your sleeves and get to work.” (Jane Goodall Institute UK) The message connected hope with personal agency: pay attention to everyday choices and act with care for the natural world and future generations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the phrase “last words” needs context
The Netflix interview is a recorded message made months before Goodall died, not a transcript of what she said in her final moments. The sources cited here do not document a final spoken sentence at the time of death. It is accurate to call the Netflix address her final recorded public message; it would overstate the evidence to call it her literal deathbed words.
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Netflix published its account of the interview on April 3, 2026, and the Institute UK memorial page also presents the hope message. Availability of Famous Last Words: Dr. Jane Goodall may vary by country and change over time.
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