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Henry Bloch, scion of H&R Block empire and Kansas City philanthropist, dies at 96
Did he consider filing for an extension?
Henry Bloch, scion of H&R Block empire and Kansas City philanthropist, dies at 96
BY ERIC ADLER
APRIL 23, 2019 12:50 PM, UPDATED 5 MINUTES AGO
Henry Bloch, the Kansas City philanthropist and the driving force, along with his late brother Richard, behind the H&R Block tax preparation dynasty, died Tuesday morning at age 96. ... Bloch, known as a gentle and gracious man of wry humor, was surrounded by family as he died in hospice.
Born in Kansas City on July 30, 1922, his imprint on his hometown and its business, educational and artistic organizations has been incalculable. He literally changed the skyline, marshaling his fortune and influence with his namesake foundation to create the H&R Block headquarters downtown, the Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute at Saint Luke’s Hospital and the Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
As notable as any, Bloch was the philanthropic force behind the glass “lenses” that are the Bloch Building, the glowing and cascading modernist structure that all but floats along the east side of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Soon after its opening in 2007 a critic for The New Yorker magazine hailed the work by architect Steven Holl as “one of the best museums of the last generation.”
A collection of 29 of Bloch’s personal and nearly priceless Impressionist and post-Impressionists paintings were more recently donated to the Nelson. Visitors by the tens of thousands have since 2015 enjoyed the artwork of Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and others that once hung in the home of Bloch and his beloved late wife, Marion, who died in 2013.
“Henry is irreplaceable,” Julián Zugazagoitia, director and chief operating officer at the Nelson said in a statement. “But beyond the museum . . .Henry has been an outstanding citizen whose generosity and vision have had a transformative impact on Kansas City. He has been a benefactor as well as a source of inspiration that continues to illuminate all that we do. We will miss him very much.”
....
Bloch is surived by four children: Robert L. Bloch, Thomas M. Bloch, Mary Jo Brown, and Elizabeth Uhlmann, all of Kansas City; 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
BY ERIC ADLER
APRIL 23, 2019 12:50 PM, UPDATED 5 MINUTES AGO
Henry Bloch, the Kansas City philanthropist and the driving force, along with his late brother Richard, behind the H&R Block tax preparation dynasty, died Tuesday morning at age 96. ... Bloch, known as a gentle and gracious man of wry humor, was surrounded by family as he died in hospice.
Born in Kansas City on July 30, 1922, his imprint on his hometown and its business, educational and artistic organizations has been incalculable. He literally changed the skyline, marshaling his fortune and influence with his namesake foundation to create the H&R Block headquarters downtown, the Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute at Saint Luke’s Hospital and the Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
As notable as any, Bloch was the philanthropic force behind the glass “lenses” that are the Bloch Building, the glowing and cascading modernist structure that all but floats along the east side of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Soon after its opening in 2007 a critic for The New Yorker magazine hailed the work by architect Steven Holl as “one of the best museums of the last generation.”
A collection of 29 of Bloch’s personal and nearly priceless Impressionist and post-Impressionists paintings were more recently donated to the Nelson. Visitors by the tens of thousands have since 2015 enjoyed the artwork of Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and others that once hung in the home of Bloch and his beloved late wife, Marion, who died in 2013.
“Henry is irreplaceable,” Julián Zugazagoitia, director and chief operating officer at the Nelson said in a statement. “But beyond the museum . . .Henry has been an outstanding citizen whose generosity and vision have had a transformative impact on Kansas City. He has been a benefactor as well as a source of inspiration that continues to illuminate all that we do. We will miss him very much.”
....
Bloch is surived by four children: Robert L. Bloch, Thomas M. Bloch, Mary Jo Brown, and Elizabeth Uhlmann, all of Kansas City; 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.