after 20 years, bánáthy left the renamed defense language institute and went to work for the far west laboratory for research and development in berkeley and later san francisco. he retired from far west in 1989 but maintained an active interest in social systems and science, including attending many conferences and advising students and others in those fields. in 1992, he helped restart the hungarian scout association within his native country. in 2003, bánáthy and eva moved to live with their son tibor in chico, california. after a brief and unexpected illness, bánáthy died on september 4, 2003.