It was Henry Bloch’s steadfast commitment to never giving up, never taking shortcuts and always putting the customer first that helped H&R Block soar to global success.
Henry Bloch and his brother, Leon, began a bookkeeping service in 1946, with a $5,000 loan from their aunt, catering to small businesses in downtown Kansas City. The business struggled in its first year and Leon left, but Henry Bloch persisted alone until his brother Richard joined him and became a partner.
Henry and Richard Bloch worked hard to grow their business over the coming years. Then, in 1955, timing and a little luck were on their side. The IRS decided to use Kansas City as a test market, where it would forego the free tax preparation help the agency had traditionally provided. That same year an ad salesman at the Kansas City Star convinced the Blochs to run two simple comic sketch ads offering personal income tax preparation for a mere $5.
Their office was overrun by customers.
In the decades that followed, H&R Block expanded to other markets, became a global company, went public and prepared more than 650 million tax returns. Beginning in the early 1970s, Henry Bloch appeared in national television commercials as the company’s spokesman, quickly earning recognition as a corporate icon and “America’s Tax Man.”