 Laurens Hammond died in 1973, and the company struggled to survive, proposing an acquiring of Roland in 1972, which was turned down.Roland's Ikutaro Kakehashi did not believe it was practical at that point to move the entire manufacturing operation from Chicago to Japan, and also viewed Hammond's declining sales figures as a problem.In 1985, Hammond went out of business, though servicing and spares continued to be available after this under the name of The Organ Service Company.