The “R” (and the “Block”, a easier-to-spell version of his name) in “H&R Block”, Bloch and his brother Henry (the “H”) ran a bookkeeping firm. In 1955, the Internal Revenue Service discontinued free tax return preparation services, and the Bloch brothers stepped in with a new service to take up the slack.
By 1978 the firm prepared more than 10 percent of all the country’s federal returns. That same year, Richard was diagnosed with fatal lung cancer. He vowed if he survived, he would help other victims. He did, and he did, creating a free hotline to help cancer victims find appropriate treatment, and establishing “National Cancer Survivor Day”, the first Sunday of June. Bloch died July 21 from heart failure. He was 78.