Derek Bryceson

Derek Noel MacLean Bryceson (December 31, 1922 – October 1, 1980) was a British-Tanzanian politician best known as the second husband of Jane Goodall.

Early life Bryceson was educated in St. Paul's School, London. In 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force, When he was 19, he was told that his injuries meant he would never walk again, but he nonetheless regained a substantial degree of mobility. and then served as Nyerere's Minister of Health and Labour; after Nyerere resigned in 1962 and was succeeded by Rashidi Kawawa, Kawawa made Bryceson his Minister of Agriculture.

He was re-elected in the 1965 Tanzanian general election.

Jane Goodall Bryceson first met Jane Goodall in 1967, when he visited the Gombe Stream Research Centre in his capacity as Minister of Agriculture.

Dale Peterson, who edited two volumes of Goodall's correspondence, has noted that Goodall's "first love letter" to Bryceson is dated August 15, 1972, and posited that their relationship began earlier that summer. In late December 1973 or early January 1974, Bryceson and Goodall survived a plane crash together, after which they decided that they no longer wished to conceal their relationship. Goodall and her first husband, Hugo van Lawick, divorced in August 1974, and Bryceson and Littleton divorced soon after; by February 1975, Bryceson and Goodall were married.

Death

In June 1980, Bryceson began experiencing stomach pain, and was diagnosed with cancer which "had already spread". After surgical treatment was of limited efficacy, Goodall contacted Hepzibah Menuhin, who recommended that Bryceson become a patient of Hans Nieper in Hanover. Nieper treated Bryceson with laetrile.

While undergoing treatment, Bryceson began writing an autobiography, but died on October 1. He was subsequently cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the waters off Dar es Salaam.