H&R Block co-founder Henry Bloch passed away on Tuesday at 96-years-old at St. Luke’s Hospice in Kansas City, Missouri.
Mr. Bloch founded the nationwide tax preparation service in 1955 with his brother, Richard, after the IRS stopped providing income tax preparation services to American consumers.
According to The Associated Press, Mr. Bloch’s brother Richard, who passed away in 2004, told reporters that him and his brother used the word “Block,” instead of Bloch, to insure that consumers spelled the company’s name correctly.
Mr. Bloch retired as the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 1992 and later as Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2000.
“Through his honesty and integrity, Henry embodied the best of American business, entrepreneurship and philanthropy. In so many ways, he was ahead of his time and a model for today’s entrepreneur,” Jeff Jones, the president and Chief Executive of H&R Block said in a statement. “His vision lives on through our H&R Block associates and the many philanthropic organizations that he supported.”
In 2011, Mr. Bloch and his wife, Marion, created the Marion and Henry Block Family Foundation to contribute to the local Kansas City community.
Mr. Bloch and his wife were also life-long benefactors of various organizations in the Kansas City area, including St. Luke’s Hospital, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and the Nelson-Atkins art museum. Mr. Bloch, at one point in time, served as Chairman on the Nelson-Atkins art museum’s Board of Trustees.
“This is an enormous loss to the community and to the Nelson-Atkins,” Richard Green, the current Chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “Henry Bloch had an unfailing vision and enthusiasm that was borne of genuine gratitude. The Nelson-Atkins was truly fortunate to benefit from Henry’s leadership, guidance, and passion for the arts. It is now our responsibility to reflect his wonderful example as we move into the future.”
“This is a sad day. Henry has been a fundamental pillar of leadership for the Nelson-Atkins for so many years,” Shirley Bush Helzberg, a former Chairwoman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “His steadfast support and keen eye for sound business practices will be sorely missed. And he was a true gentleman.”
“Over the years, I have enjoyed giving back. And in the process I have learned that true success is not measured in what you get, but in what you give back,” Mr. Bloch once said, according to a statement released by the company he founded.
Mr. Bloch made a generous contribution to the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 2012 — resulting in the university naming its School of Business Management after him.
