Tarzana, CA – Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE,  founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and U. N. Messenger of Peace, will be the guest of honor at the Tarzan Centennial Celebration to be held on the evening of Saturday, August 18, 2012.  The celebration is part of a three-day Burroughs Bibliophiles Convention to be held August 16-18, 2012 at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills, CA.

Dr. Goodall credits Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan Of The Apes novel, written in 1912, and other Tarzan stories, as the source of her life-long interest in primates.  At the early age of 11 she began reading the Tarzan series and quickly developed an intense interest in Africa and all its mysteries. 

Dr. Goodall is attending the Tarzan Centennial Celebration at the invitation of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the corporation established in 1923 to house and promote more than 70 novels and 40 short stories written by Mr. Burroughs. The three-day event will include a huckster room for collectors, panel discussions on literary and film subjects; and guest celebrity appearances, and will culminate in a banquet held at the hotel, Saturday, August 18, 2012.  The Celebration will also include a tribute to the novel, A Princess of Mars, featuring John Carter of Mars, also written by Mr. Burroughs in 1912.

In July 1960, Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzee behavior in what is now Tanzania.  Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatalogical research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1977, Dr. Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats.  The Institute is widely recognized for innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, the global environmental and humanitarian youth program.

Dr. Goodall founded Roots & Shoots with a group of Tanzanian students in 1991.  Today, Roots & Shoots connects hundreds of thousands of youth in more than 120 countries who take action to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment.   

Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth.

Dr. Goodall’s honors included the French Legion of Honor, the Medal of Tanzania, and Japan’s prestitious Kyoto Prize.  In 2002, Dr. Goodall was appointed to serve as a United Nations Messenger of Peace and in 2003, she was named a Dame of the British Empire (DBE).

For more information about Dr. Goodall and of the Jane Goodall Institute please visit www.janegoodall.org and www.rootsandshoots.org. 

For more information about TARZAN, JOHN CARTER and EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS please visit www.edgarriceburroughs.com.