ABOUT HENRY:
Henry Bloch was born July 30, 1922, the second son of a prominent Kansas City lawyer. He attended Southwest High School, began his college career at the University of Kansas City – now the University of Missouri-Kansas City – and later transferred to the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in 1944.
Henry joined the Army Air Corps shortly after the United States entered World War II. Serving in the Eighth Air Force as a navigator on B-17 bombers, he flew 31 combat missions over Germany, three of them over Berlin. He was awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters.
During the war, Henry and his brothers, Leon and Richard, began corresponding with each other about starting a family business, something that the boys parents had always encouraged. After attending Harvard, Henry and his brothers saw an entrepreneurial opportunity in providing support and resources to small businesses.
ABOUT TOM:
After starting with H&R Block in 1972, Tom Bloch, son of Henry ascended to CEO in 1992. He was making $1 million a year, but something was missing. After much soul-searching, Tom resigned in 1995 to become an inner-city middle school math teacher at St Francis Xavior in Kansas City.
Five years later, he co-founded the University Academy, a public charter school in Kansas City. Tom continues to teach 7th and 8th grade math at the urban college prep school he helped design and launch.