On the day Jane Goodall turned 90, I sat down at a small table with her. It was April 2024, and she was in Manhattan to promote a partnership with a jewelry company, Brilliant Earth. The company was making a $100,000 donation to her foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute, and she was giving her name to an eco-friendly line of necklaces, rings and earrings. The gold would all be recycled and the diamonds would come only from labs. No mining involved.
People buzzed around; a lunch would be served, and fashion influencers were on hand. Dr. Goodall looked small and tired amid the hubbub.
I knew the question I wanted to start with.
“When you woke up this morning, on your actual 90th birthday, what was the first thing you thought?” I asked. The room was so loud that I had to lean forward to hear her response.
“That I wish I was somewhere else,” she said.
It wasn’t the answer I expected. Relistening to the tape of our interview on Wednesday, the day she died, I hear my voice change from cheery to concerned.
“Well, you know, I like being out in nature,” she explained. Then she told me about all the birthday greetings she woke up to, and how she thought of her family and friends. This day wasn’t about that, she said, seeming a little sad but resolved.
“This birthday is about my mission, which is getting the word out to people around the world and raising money for our projects,” she said.
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