Jack Block

Jack Block, a prominent psychologist of personality who in 1968 began studying a group of California preschoolers and for decades kept watch as they moved from childhood through adolescence and into adulthood, died on Jan. 13 2010 at his home in El Cerrito, Calif. He was 85. At his death, Professor Block was an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he had taught from 1957 until his retirement in 1991. Jacob Block, always called Jack, was born in Brooklyn on April 28, 1924. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford in 1951. Besides his daughter Susan, Professor Block is survived by two other daughters, Jody Block and Carol Block; a son, David; and four grandchildren.