Dr. Dian Fossey was born in Fairfax, California, in 1932. Her strong interest in animals led her to enter college as a pre-veterinary student. Soon, however, she switched to occupational therapy and obtained her degree from San Jose State College. Through friends, Fossey became interested in Africa and made a six-week trip there in 1963. She became determined to work with gorillas and gained support to start a research program in Rwanda, where she established Karisoke Research Centre in 1967. Intense observation over thousands of hours enabled Fossey to earn the trust of the wild gorilla groups she studied. She contributed volumes of new knowledge about gorillas and their behavior. When poachers attacked and killed a young male named Digit, to whom she had grown especially attached, she began a public campaign against gorilla poaching. Contributions from around the world allowed Fossey to establish the Digit Fund (renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in 1992) and to dedicate the rest of her life to the protection of the gorillas.

Dr. Fossey obtained her Ph.D. at Cambridge University and in 1980 accepted a position at Cornell University that enabled her to begin writing Gorillas in the Mist. The book brought even more attention to the plight of mountain gorillas, whose numbers had dwindled to 250. She returned to Karisoke to continue her work to ensure the survival of the mountain gorilla and to stop the practice of poaching. Dr. Fossey was murdered in her cabin at Karisoke on December 26, 1985. Her death is a mystery yet unsolved. The last entry in her diary reads: "When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future." Dian Fossey's dream still lives on in the work of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and of the dedicated researchers and Rwandan staff at Karisoke. Today, the mountain gorilla population is making steady gains in the Virunga Volcano area.