Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick

Jerrold “Jerry” Bock (1928–2010) was an American musical theater composer. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised in Flushing, Queens, New York, Bock studied the piano as a child and later at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Bock made his Broadway debut in 1955 with songs to Catch a Star. Shortly after, Bock met lyricist Sheldon 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 director George Abbott and producer Hal Prince. They hired the team to compose a musical biography of former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Fiorello! (1959) earned Bock and Harnick the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, Tony Award for Best Musical (tied with the team from The Sound of Music) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Bock's additional collaborations with Harnick include Tenderloin (1960), Man in the Moon (1963), She Loves Me (1963), Fiddler on the Roof (1964), The Apple Tree (1966), and The Rothschilds (1970), as well as contributions to Never Too Late (1962), Baker Street (1965), Her First Roman (1968), and others.