Jerry Bock
Born	Jerrold Lewis Bock (1928-11-23)November 23, 1928 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	November 3, 2010(2010-11-03) (aged 81) Mount Kisco, New York, U.S.
Education	University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA)
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1955–2010

Jerrold Lewis Bock (November 23, 1928 – November 3, 2010) was an Americanmusical theater composer. He received theTony Award for Best Musical and thePulitzer Prize for Drama withSheldon Harnick for their 1959 musicalFiorello! and the Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist for the 1964 musicalFiddler on the Roof with Sheldon Harnick.

Born inNew Haven, Connecticut, and raised inFlushing, Queens,New York, Bock studied thepiano as a child. While a student at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, he wrote the musicalBig As Life, which toured the state and enjoyed a run inChicago. After graduation, he spent three summers at the Tamiment Playhouse in thePoconos and wrote for earlytelevision revues with lyricistLarry Holofcener. One of their songs, the three-part "The Story of Alice," was performed by theChad Mitchell Trio on theirBlowin' in the Wind album of 1962.^[1]

Bock made hisBroadway debut in 1955 when he andLawrence Holofcener contributed songs toCatch a Star. The following year the duo collaborated on the musicalMr. Wonderful, designed forSammy Davis Jr., after which they worked onZiegfeld Follies of 1956, which closed out-of-town.^[2]

Shortly after, Bock met lyricistSheldon Harnick, with whom he forged a successful partnership. Although their first joint venture,The Body Beautiful, failed to charm the critics, its score caught the attention of directorGeorge Abbott and producerHal Prince. They hired the team to compose a musical biography of formerNew York City mayorFiorello La Guardia.Fiorello! (1959) earned Bock and Harnick theNew York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, Tony Award for Best Musical (tied with the team fromThe Sound of Music) and thePulitzer Prize for Drama.

Bock's additional collaborations with Harnick includeTenderloin (1960),Man in the Moon (1963),She Loves Me (1963),Fiddler on the Roof (1964),The Apple Tree (1966), andThe Rothschilds (1970), as well as contributions toNever Too Late (1962),Baker Street (1965),Her First Roman (1968), andThe Madwoman of Central Park West (1979).Fiddler on the Roof included the hit song "If I Were a Rich Man".

Established in 1997, the Jerry Bock Award for Excellence in Musical Theater is an annual grant presented to the composer and lyricist of a project developed in theBMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.^[3]

Bock spoke at the funeral of 98-year-old Fiddler playwrightJoseph Stein just 10 days before his own death, from heart failure at 81, less than three weeks before his 82nd birthday.^[4]

• Jerry Bock at theInternet Broadway Database
• Jerry Bock at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• Jerry Bock atIMDb
• Jerry Bock papers in theMusic Division ofThe New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• PBS biography
• Songwriters Hall of Fame biography
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Jerry Bock

• 1928 births
• 2010 deaths
• American musical theatre composers
• American male musical theatre composers
• Broadway composers and lyricists
• Flushing High School alumni
• Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
• Jewish American songwriters
• University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
• Grammy Award winners
• Musicians from New Rochelle, New York
• Daytime Emmy Award winners
• Tony Award winners
• Songwriters from New York (state)
• 21st-century American Jews

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