Lawrence Block is the founder of the Highland Park Strings, a musical organization for which he also has served as general manager and co-principal cellist since 1979. As leader of the Strings, Block "does it all," serving as impresario, personnel manager, librarian, director of development, stage manager, program annotator, and tour director. He has arranged for key partnerships and funding for the Strings to sustain the policy of offering free admission to this community ensemble's concerts. Block has also organized three international tours as cultural bridges to Highland Park Sister Cities Ferrara, Italy in 1995 and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 2004 and 2006. In 1998, he also took the Strings on a country-wide tour of Israel. Block was the Chief Operating Partner and Chairman of the management committee at Schiff Hardin LLP before his retirement. He is also past president of the Rotary Club of Highland Park, a member of the board of trustees of the Ravinia Festival, and board member of the Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation, Holland America Music Society, and the New Millennium Orchestra. He is active in the American Cello Council and the Chicago Cello Society; he is also a life trustee of Steppenwolf Theatre and a former board member of Chamber Music America and the Music Institute of Chicago.

Mayor Michael Belsky praised Block for "his fierce commitment to sustaining and constantly reinventing the Highland Park Strings … Lawrence Block created a model of cultural ingenuity and had the moxie to make it endure."