Grantmakers in the News

Legendary Washington Post political cartoonist Herbert L. Block, who died On October 7, 2001 at the age of 91, designated most of his $50 million estate to establish and endow the Herb Block Foundation. The foundation will support programs that aid the poor, distressed, and underprivileged; promote civil rights; fight prejudice and discrimination; advance freedom of expression; and improve democratic government.

Block's estate includes more than $49 million in Washington Post Company stock, a million-dollar home in Georgetown, and personal property. The four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, who was known to generations of readers as Herblock, also bequeathed his cartoons, sketches, paintings, and manuscripts to the foundation. Before his death, Block named Jean Rickard, his assistant of more than forty years, as executor of his estate and recommended the she serve as executive director of the foundation.

Block also left a total of $1.1 million to several nonprofit organizations whose views he supported. The gifts included $200,000 to Handgun Control Inc., now the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; $100,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union; $100,000 to the Salvation Army; $100,000 to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; $75,000 to the Capital Children's Museum; and $50,000 each to the United Negro College Fund, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, CARE, and So Others Might Eat.

Before his death, Block was making arrangements to donate most of his work, including unpublished cartoons, to the Library of Congress. The will, signed in February 2001, authorizes the foundation to transfer his collection to a public institution, such as the Library of Congress, and create an endowment to support it, if the foundation's directors decide that is the best way to preserve them and make them accessible.

Smith, J. Y. “Herblock, Longtime Post Cartoonist, Dies.” Washington Post. 10/08/01.

Miller, Bill. “Most of Herblock Estate to Endow Foundation.” Washington Post. 10/24/01.