Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1952, Sharon Bock attended Laurel Valley School District, graduating in 1970. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Slippery Rock University, graduating in 1974 with a dual major in Special Education/Early Childhood Education. She taught the first program in Ashtabula, Ohio, for physically challenged children K-8.
Engaged in social issues focused on improving individuals’ lives, she attended law school and completed her Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1986. During law school, she was selected by the American Bar Association as the national Law Student Liaison for the Law Practice Management Section. She was assistant managing editor of the South Texas Law Review. She has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1987.
Bock is an American attorney, business executive, and politician who served as Palm Beach County’s elected Clerk and Comptroller from 2005-2021. During her career, she earned security and real estate licenses and is a certified scuba diver and general aviation pilot. Bock came to national and international recognition with her creation of the Guardianship Fraud Program, developed to investigate court-appointed guardians/conservators independently.
Bock started her legal career in 1987 as a real estate and business lawyer in Miami, Florida, where she vertically integrated her services by establishing a title insurance agency in 1989—not knowing that in the future, she was going to win an award in this career line for herself that will eventually open doors of many other good opportunities for her as well, which she can utilize for other’s benefits.
Bock was President of the Women’s Business Development Center at Florida International University, where she developed mentoring programs and helped women entrepreneurs obtain small business loans. She was recognized by the Florida Association of Women Lawyers with the “Glass Ceiling Breaker Award” in 2002.
Along with her Law career, Bock was investing her time in other arenas, too; in 1998, Bock was recruited by then Clerk Dorothy H. Wilkens to join her management team as the first attorney to lead the 500-employee court division as Chief Deputy of Court Services. She took office in January of 2005. After a competitive race with 4 other candidates, Bock handily won 76% of the vote. After being re-elected for four consecutive terms, she decided to retire in 2021.
Nationally, Bock received the Joanne Otto Distinguished Service Award from the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) in recognition of the Clerk’s Guardianship Fraud and Hotline Program. In 2017 the National Guardianship Association praised her program as a blueprint for the nation and chose her for their top award, Member of the Year.
Statewide, Bock was included in the Daily Business Review’s Top 20 Women in Law and the Quality Senior Living Award by Florida Council on Aging in 2016. The Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Award for Policy and Advocacy in Guardianship Innovation was given to Bock in 2015 in recognition of her groundbreaking work.
