Bucky’s campaign on behalf of the success of all humans and life on Spaceship Earth was the focus of the last phase of his life from 1976 until his death on July 1, 1983. During this period, he was continually traveling, making presentations, writing and sharing as much of what he had learned as possible.  It was, in fact, a last ditch effort to make certain that his life was complete and that the had given everything possible in support of his mission to create “a world that works for everyone.”

            During this period, he finally completed a massive book explaining his new mathematics based on triangulation and integrity.  Bucky’s mathematics could replace traditional mathematics, which is based on right angles that do not appear anywhere in nature and thus have no integrity.  That book “Synergetics, The Geometry of Thinking” and its companion “Synergetics 2” (written to explain the first volume) remain classics outlining an entirely new way of looking at mathematics, human thought and the purpose of humans on Earth.

            Bucky also wrote and published a detailed summary of all that he had learned and found to be true regarding the human experience in his final major book, Critical Path. In that book, he outlines the course humankind must follow if we are to survive and thrive. He does not discount or make wrong any past activities or actions of our ancestors, but he makes it crystal clear that we have entered into a new era of sufficiency, you and me, cooperation and peace in which previous solutions and behaviors such as war, competition, politics and corporate domination are obsolete.

            This is the wisdom and the challenge that the pattern integrity known as R. Buckminster Fuller left for us. It remains as much a shining gem of hope and possibility as it was when he walked our tiny Spaceship Earth sharing his perspective and the good news of possibility and hope that we can succeed as a species and be good stewards of our planet if we cooperate to create “a world that works for everyone.”

Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller died on July 1, 1983 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles where he was faithfully watching over his beloved wife Anne who was in a coma and not expected to regain consciousness. Sitting at her bedside, hand in hand with his wife of 66 years, he felt something and exclaimed, “She squeezed my hand!”

Moments later, Bucky experienced massive heart failure and died. Anne never regained consciousness and died 36 hours later.  They were buried together in Milton, Massachusetts under a tombstone that reads “Call Me Trimtab.”

The conscious nature of his life and death became more obvious when a neat stack of papers was found on his desk.  The note on top of those papers asked the finder to please make sure that this material was published, as it was the final thing Bucky had to say.

Although that material was eventually published years later as the book Cosmography, it does not seem to be the last thing Bucky has to say.  For many of us, he continues to speak and remind us again and again that humankind has entered our “final examination” and that we can all survive and thrive if we begin cooperating with one another and working for the betterment of all life on Earth.

1976 - Participates in drafting “Declaration of Principles and Rights for American Children.”
Publishes And It Came To Pass - Not To Stay.
Completes work on world’s first tetrahedronal book, Tetrascroll, which is published in limited edition.

1977 - Designs and develops two new prototype geodesic domes, “Pinecone Dome” and “”Fly’s Eye Dome.”
Travels on lecture of Far East sponsored by US government.

1978 - Appears in ad for Honda Civic.
Becomes Senior Partner in NY architectural firm Fuller & Sadao.

1979 - Publishes Synergetics 2, expanding on Synergetics and Buckminster Fuller on Education.
Becomes Chairman of the Board of R. Buckminster Fuller, Sadao & Zung Architects of Ohio.
Becomes Senior Partner of Buckminster Fuller Associates, London, England.

1980 - Granted patent for tensegrity truss.
Delivers over 90 “thinking out loud” lectures around the world.
Moves to Pacific Palisades, CA near his daughter Allegra and her family.

1981 - Publishes Critical Path.
Inducted into the “Housing Hall of Fame.”

1982 - Publishes three books: Grunch of Giants, Inventions and Humans in Universe.
Designs and supervises Dymaxion “Big Map” the size of a basketball court and displays it to members of the US Congress.
Delivers over 70 “thinking out loud” lectures around the world.
Inducted into the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame.
Granted patent for hanging storage shelf unit.

1983 - Honored in day long “Integrity Day” presentations in several US cities.
Dies July 1 in Los Angeles, CA.