What happened to Jane Goodall’s son Grub? All about Hugo Eric Louis Van Lawick as primatologist mom dies at 91

Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist who dedicated her life to the research of chimpanzees in Africa, died at the age of 91 on Wednesday. At the time of her death, Goodall was in Los Angeles on a speaking engagement, according to the Jane Goodall Institute.

Goodall’s son, Hugo Eric Louis van Lawick, better known as "Grub," now resides in Tanzania alongside his wife Maria, according to People Magazine. Grub was born in Nairobi, Kenya, to Goodall and her first husband, photographer and filmmaker Baron Hugo van Lawick, in 1967.

The ethologist split with van Lawick after a decade of marriage. In a conversation with People Magazine, Goodall noted that the former couple “drifted apart” when van Lawick travelled away for work. She said,

“I went with him, but I needed to get back to Gombe. I built up the research station and I had to — that was my thing. So we sort of drifted apart. We began to bicker.”

She also told the news outlet that the divorce was difficult for "Grub," but eventually, Goodall was convinced that it was the better decision in the long run.

About Jane Goodall's son, Hugo 'Grub' Eric Louis Van Lawick

Hugo Eric Louis Van Lawick was largely brought up by his mother in Africa, where she performed her research on chimpanzees. According to Fox News, Goodall famously built a cage to protect her son from the wildlife as he accompanied her during her research. She told the news outlet,

“That was when he was a very tiny baby. Before he could walk. It was a sort of cage, which we built. But you could stand upright and walk across it. He couldn’t even crawl. So it was almost like a giant cot. And he was never on his own. He was never left even for five minutes without somebody in the room with him. And I never left him one single night until he was three years old.”

Fox News also noted that as a young child, Grub split his time between his mother’s native England and Tanzania. According to WBUR, Grub studied in England while living with Goodall’s mother and joined Goodall in Africa during his holidays. While speaking about the arrangement during her son’s childhood, Goodall, according to WBUR, said,

“Most women weren't even thinking in terms of careers…I was trying to do it all, and I did spend almost all the time with my son until he was 6 1/2, when he went off to England, living with my mother. It sometimes sounds a bit brutal, 'sending him off to England' — I sent him off to my family, because I'd been home schooling him and I couldn't go on doing that.”

However, Goodall’s research on primates aided her parenting journey. Goodall noted that she learned a lot about being a mother from a chimpanzee named Flo. She said,

“What I learned from Flo was the importance of supporting your child — supporting your child even if your baby had a fight with an infant whose mother was dominant. Your mother, if she's supportive, will rush in to help you, even though she knows she's going to get beaten up. That's what my mother did for me.”

According to Parade, Grub grew up and settled in Tanzania, working as a boat builder. He and his wife are now parents to three children, Angel, Merlin and Nick. The Citizen noted that Grub was living in a compound by the Indian Ocean, in Dar es Salaam, which was owned by his mother and her second husband, who died in 1980.