in 1984, bánáthy was co-founder with general evolution theorist ervin lászló and others of the initially secret general evolutionary research group, or general evolutionary research group. a member of the society of general systems research since the 1960s, he was managing director of the society in the early 1980s, and in 1985 he became its president. he then served on its board of trustees. during the 1980s, he served on the executive committee of the international federation of systems research. in 1989, he retired from far west labs and returned to live on the monterey peninsula. he continued to serve as professor emeritus for the saybrook graduate school, counseling ph.d. students. he also continued his work with the annual isi international systems design conversations, and authored a number of articles and books about systems, design, and evolutionary research. he served two terms as president of the international federation of systems research during 1994-98.