Richard A. (Dick) Bloch, born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 15, 1926, is the youngest of three sons. An entrepreneur at heart, at age nine he bought a hand printing press and started a business. He was so successful that by his twelfth birthday he had progressed to three automatic presses and was doing much of the printing for all the high schools in Kansas City. After high school, he sold his business to a college in Iowa as a model shop for use in printing courses.

Dick attended the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania where he received a bachelor of science degree in economics at the age of 19. While in college, he bought cars, took them apart, put them back together and then sold them to pay for his expenses. After graduation, Bloch joined his older brother, Henry, in the formation of a bookkeeping and tax preparation company. They started a new company in 1955 specializing in just tax preparation, H & R Block, Inc. Today H & R Block operates more than 10,400 offices worldwide and prepares over 23,000,000 income tax returns annually.

In 1978, Dick was told he had terminal lung cancer with 3 months to live. Refusing to accept this prognosis, he went to a major comprehensive cancer center where, after 2 years of aggressive therapy, he was told he was cured. Since Dick's bout with cancer, he has focused his attention on working "to help the next person who gets cancer." He sold his interest in H&R Block, Inc. and retired from the company in 1982 to be able to devote all his efforts to cancer.

Richard and Annette Bloch are founders of the Cancer Hot Line in Kansas City, a volunteer organization which has received more than 150,000 calls from newly diagnosed cancer patients since its inception in 1980. This has been duplicated in several other cities.

They also founded the R.A. Bloch Cancer Management Center at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. This was a free multidisciplinary second opinion panel staffed by over 100 physicians donating their time from 1980 to 1995 to help some 250 cancer patients per year know they are receiving the best possible treatment. Because of greatly increased demand, it was closed and replaced by local institutions offering a similar service. This service, although not necessarily free in other cities, has been duplicated in over 40 other cities.

On May 1, 1988, the R. A. Bloch Cancer Support Center was dedicated on the grounds of the University of Missouri - Kansas City. It was a relaxing, comfortable place for patients and their supporters to congregate for the purposes of sharing and education. This was coordinated by professionals and like all other Bloch programs, completely free. Innovative support programs were developed at the Center and sent out into the community. Once these programs were established throughout the area, it was felt that it was no longer necessary to maintain the facility. The Support Center closed in 2001.

Dick conceived of a computer program which the National Cancer Institute developed under the name "PDQ" for "Physicians Data Query." It gives the state- the-art treatment for every type and stage of cancer and all the current open experimental therapies. This information is gathered from every cancer center in the United States and over 100 foreign countries and is continuously updated by a staff of 72 researchers. In government publications it states, "If physicians avail themselves of the opportunity now offered by PDQ, the NCI estimates the national survival rates would rise by at least 10% or more than 40,000 lives per year." The government named the building housing this program in Bethesda, MD the R.A. Bloch International Cancer Information Center. Most government issued cancer information emanates from this building.

They are the authors of 3 books. Cancer . . . there's hope is a story of Richard and Annette's fight against his "terminal" lung cancer. It is written, not to tell a story, but to show others what they can do to battle this disease. Fighting Cancer is a step-by-step guide for cancer patients to help themselves fight the disease. In 1998 Ann Landers featured the book Fighting Cancer in her column. The magnitude of calls jammed the phone lines with 423,000 calls attempted the first day alone. Guide for Cancer Supporters is written to help supporters exclusively. They are available free by calling the Cancer Hot Line at 1-800-433-0464, or by ordering from our website at www.blochcancer.org.

They started the Fighting Cancer Rally in 1986 to demonstrate that death and cancer are not synonymous and there is a possibility of a quality of life after the diagnosis of cancer. Rallies now are held simultaneously across the country the first Sunday in June.

At the Rally in Kansas City in June 1990, the first R.A. Bloch Cancer Survivors Park was dedicated to the 8,000,000 living Americans who had been diagnosed with cancer, 4,000,000 of whom were considered cured. Today those figures have almost doubled! In addition to Kansas City other parks have been completed in Bakersfield, CA; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Cleveland, OH; Columbia, SC; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Minneapolis, MN; New Orleans, LA; Omaha, NE; Phoenix, AZ; Rancho Mirage, CA; Sacramento, CA; San Diego, CA, Santa Rosa, CA; Tucson, AZ, Tampa, FL and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Additional parks are planned for other major cities.

Annette and Dick talk to over 1,000 cancer patients individually each year, listening to their problems and trying to help them and their families. They go around the country speaking to different groups and organizations. They have been the subject of articles in numerous magazines including Family Circle, Medical World News, People, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Reader's Digest. They have appeared on national television on every major network and in numerous documentaries. They have received awards or been honored by such organizations as the American Cancer Society, the Sertoma Club, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Rotary Club, the Lion's Club, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they received the Mankind Award from Cystic Fibrosis. In 1982, Dick was appointed by President Reagan to the National Cancer Advisory Board for a 6-year term. In 1989, he was selected as one of the "Most Caring Individuals" from 4,000 nominees by the Caring Institute in Washington. He is a member of the President's Circle of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and was on the NIH's Office of Alternative Medicine for 2 years. Dick received the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Public Service Award in 1994 in recognition of exemplary contributions to the field of oncology and to patients with cancer. He received the 1995 Layman's Award from the Society of Surgical Oncology at their Annual Convention. In 2003, Dick was honored as the first recipient of the Allesandro di Montezemolo Lifetime Achievement Award given by the American-Italian Cancer Foundation for his dedication to helping cancer patients, especially the development of PDQ.

Annette Modell Bloch was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she lived until her marriage to Dick in 1946. She and Dick have three daughters - Barbara, Nancy and Linda and ten grandchildren. Her family always her top priority, Annette has also participated in many civic activities and is now Dick's partner in all of their cancer projects including public appearances and talks to various groups. Annette and Dick received Coping Magazine's 1995 Hero Award for Lifetime Achievement.