James A. Block joined Block Drug Company, Inc., in 1959, serving as President from 1973 to 1988 and  Chairman from 1988 to 2001, when the company was sold to GlaxoSmithKline. He is currently President of Block Asset Management, Inc. From 1996 to 2004, Block was an active board member at the National Museum of the American Indian. He also serves on the board of the Baron de Hirsch Fund and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Together with his wife Barbara, Block is a recipient of the James Smithson Society Founders Medal from the Smithsonian Institution.