| Henry Bloch  AKA Henry Wollman Bloch
Born: 30-Jul-1922
Birthplace: Kansas City, MO
Died: 23-Apr-2019
Location of death: Kansas City, MO
Cause of death: unspecified
Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Business
Party Affiliation: Democratic Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Co-Founder of H&R Bloch Military service: US Army Air Corps (1943-45, 1st Lt.) Henry Bloch served as a navigator on B-17 bombers during World War II, then studied at Harvard under the GI Bill, and founded the United Business Company in his home town of Kansas City in 1946. It was a two-man partnership with his brother Leon, offering accounting services to small businesses. Leon dropped out of the business after a few years, and Henry Bloch ran the office alone until his brother, Richard Bloch, joined the firm. They performed a wide array of payroll and accounting services and offered free tax preparation as a bonus to regular customers, but business boomed in 1955, after they bought an ad in the local newspaper offering tax preparation at a reasonable rate.
After preparing tax returns for hundreds of new customers, Henry and Richard Bloch dissolved United Business Company in July 1955 and opened a new business specializing in tax preparation, H&R Block (intentionally misspelling their last name to make it easier to pronounce). For the next year's tax season Block opened seven new offices, and by 1962, when the company went public, H&R Block had more than 200 offices nationwide. The company now provides services in eleven nations, including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Father: Leon E. Bloch (attorney)
Mother: Hortense Bienenstok
Brother: Leon Bloch (d. 2012)
Brother: Richard Bloch (b. 15-Feb-1926, d. 21-Jul-2004)
Wife: Marion Helzberg (m. 16-Jun-1951, d. 24-Sep-2013 brain cancer, two daughters, two sons)
Daughter: Elizabeth Ann
Daughter: Mary Jo
Son: Robert
Son: Thomas M. Bloch (H&R Bloch executive)
High School: Southwest High School, Kansas City, MO
University: University of Missouri at Kansas City (attended)
University: BS Mathematics, University of Michigan (1944)
Scholar: Statistical Control, Harvard Business School
Air Medal 1943 (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
United Business Company Founder and President (1946-55)
H&R Block Co-Founder (1955-89)
Boy Scouts of America
Delta Sigma Pi Business Fraternity
International Franchise Association Hall of Fame (1983)
Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Trustee
United Way
Kansas City Symphony
Author of books:
H&R Block's Tax Relief (1995, with Michael Shook)
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