Richard Bloch

Richard Adolf “Dick” Bloch (1926–2004) was a Kansas City entrepreneur and philanthropist who, with his older brother Henry Bloch, co-founded the tax-preparation company H&R Block in Kansas City in 1955.¹ After surviving a “terminal” lung-cancer diagnosis in 1978, he devoted the rest of his life to cancer survivorship, founding the R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Hotline, and a network of Cancer Survivors Parks across North America — anchored by the flagship park in Kansas City.²³

Biography

Early life

Richard Adolf Bloch was born February 15, 1926, in Kansas City, Missouri.¹ He was the younger brother of Henry W. Bloch, with whom he would build the business that bore the family name.¹

Co-founding H&R Block (1955)

In 1955, Richard and Henry Bloch refocused their fledgling Kansas City company on income-tax preparation and renamed it “H&R Block” — adopting the “ck → ck/k” spelling change so the name would be pronounced correctly.¹ Henry concentrated on Kansas City operations while Richard led the company’s national expansion; by 1962, the year H&R Block went public, the company had grown to roughly 206 offices in 34 states.¹⁴ Richard later turned to building the company’s overseas presence.¹ He sold his interest in H&R Block in 1982 to concentrate full-time on cancer philanthropy, remaining honorary chairman of the board.⁴⁵

Cancer diagnosis + survivorship advocacy

In 1978 Bloch was diagnosed with lung cancer and reportedly told he had about 90 days to live.⁴⁵ He sought a second opinion and aggressive treatment — including care at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston — and his cancer went into remission, with his recovery declared a victory by 1980.¹⁵ In the late 1980s he was also diagnosed with and successfully treated for colon cancer.¹ His experience as a survivor became the foundation of his second career as a cancer-survivorship advocate. He was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board (1982) and received the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Public Service Award in 1994.¹

The R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation + Cancer Survivors Parks

In 1980 Richard and his wife Annette founded the Cancer Hotline, a free service connecting newly diagnosed patients with trained survivor volunteers matched to their diagnosis.¹⁵ The couple’s broader charitable vehicle, the R.A. Bloch Cancer Foundation, distributed free educational books and partnered with the National Cancer Institute on its PDQ (Physician Data Query) treatment database.⁵ They also endowed the R.A. Bloch Cancer Management Center and Cancer Support Center at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.¹

The foundation’s most visible legacy is its network of Cancer Survivors Parks. The first, in Kansas City, was dedicated June 3, 1990, built around sculptor Victor Salmones’ bronze work Cancer… There’s Hope — eight life-size figures passing through a maze representing cancer treatment, fearful before and joyful after.³⁶ The foundation went on to fund 24 such parks across the United States and Canada, each sharing three common features: a Positive Mental Attitude Walk, a Celebration of Life Plaza, and a Road to Recovery.³

Legacy

Richard Bloch died of heart failure on July 21, 2004, in Kansas City, aged 78.¹ His wife Annette continued the foundation’s work until her death on July 17, 2021.⁵ He is remembered both as a co-founder of one of Kansas City’s most successful national companies and as a philanthropist who turned his own survival into a durable institution of cancer support.⁴

Significance to Kansas City

Richard Bloch is doubly significant to Kansas City: as co-architect of H&R Block, a homegrown company that grew into a nationally recognized tax-preparation brand headquartered downtown,¹⁴ and as the founder of the flagship R.A. Bloch Cancer Survivors Park, a public greenspace and sculpture installation near the Country Club Plaza / Roanoke area that remains a fixture of the city’s parks system.² Together with his brother Henry Bloch, the Bloch name is woven into Kansas City’s business, civic, and philanthropic identity.⁴

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Richard Bloch” (accessed June 2026). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bloch ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

2. Kansas City Parks & Recreation — “Bloch Cancer Survivors Park.” https://kcparks.org/places/bloch-cancer-survivors-park/ ↩ ↩²

3. Kansas City Parks & Recreation — “Cancer There’s Hope.” https://kcparks.org/places/cancer-theres-hope/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. H&R Block Investor Relations — “OBIT/H&R Block Associates Mourn the Loss of Co-Founder, Richard A. Bloch” (2004). https://investors.hrblock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/obithr-block-associates-mourn-loss-co-founder-richard-bloch ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Richard & Annette Bloch Family Foundation — “Richard & Annette Bloch.” https://blochcancer.org/about/richard-annette-bloch/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. Smithsonian Institution — “Cancer…There’s Hope, (sculpture)” (Salmones, Victor). https://www.si.edu/object/cancertheres-hope-sculpture:siris_ari_316631 ↩