For most of the world, Dr. Jane Goodall was a legendary primatologist whose groundbreaking work with chimpanzees reshaped how we understand animals — and ourselves. But to her only child, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, nicknamed Grub, she was also just Mom.
Raising a child in the wilds of Tanzania while leading world-renowned research may seem impossible. But for Goodall, the two roles informed each other. In fact, she credited the lessons she learned from chimpanzees with helping her raise her son.
“The most important thing is support,” Goodall told SheKnows in 2022. “You need to support your child in what they want to do, they might change their mind but don’t try and impose what you want your child to do on them, just support them.”
All About Jane Goodall’s Son
Grub was born on March 4, 1967, in Nairobi, Kenya, to Goodall and her then-husband, Baron Hugo van Lawick. Just a few years earlier, Goodall had begun her research at Gombe Stream National Park, where she lived among chimpanzees and made discoveries about their social behaviors.
Rather than step away from her work when she became a mother, Goodall brought Grub along. His earliest years were spent in the heart of the Tanzanian forest. Aware of the risks, Goodall took extra safety measures like building a custom protective cage.
“He couldn’t even crawl,” she told Fox News in 2018. “So it was almost like a giant cot. And he was never on his own,” she said.
In 1974, after 10 years of marriage, Goodall and van Lawick divorced. Though the separation was difficult, especially for Grub, the two remained on good terms.
“It was sad for our son, but he survived it okay. It was sad, but I think it was better,” Goodall said in a 2020 People interview.
The following year, Goodall married Derek Bryceson, a politician and director of national parks. He sadly passed away in 1980 when Grub was just 14.
What Jane Goodall’s Son Does Today
Eventually, Grub left Tanzania to attend school in England. While his early years were surrounded by nature, Grub didn’t pursue a career in animal research.
“He’s never wanted to really go out there and study animals like that, so it didn’t really appeal to him, but he does look back and remember the freedom of it and how beautiful it was,” Goodall once said in a Getty interview. “So I think he learned a lot from it.”
Now living full-time in Tanzania with his wife, Maria, Grub works as a boat builder. Together, the couple have three children, Angel, Merlin and Nick van Lawick.
Despite Grub choosing a different path, his children are continuing parts of the Goodall legacy in their own ways.
Angel has been involved with the Roots & Shoots program, founded by her grandmother through the Jane Goodall Institute. Nick, Grub’s youngest, is a filmmaker, music video director and photographer.
Though Grub may not have followed his mother into conservation, those who knew their family say he always respected his upbringing. “Grub accepted that his parents had these unique gifts,” said Brett Morgen, director of the 2017 documentary Jane. “And I don’t think he would’ve wanted it any other way.”
