Prinz, Tobey

The Chicago Park District board on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, unanimously agreed to rename Pratt Beach Park after Tobey Prinz, officials said.

Tobey Prinz, who died in 1984, was a Rogers Park activist who led the campaign in the '50s and '60s to preserve and protect the 13 street-end beaches in the neighborhood from high-rise development. Prinz was the champion of the neighborhood's "Save the Beaches" campaign, which aimed to thwart developers from staking claim to Rogers Park's lakefront beginning in the 1950s.

She later became a champion of tenants' rights and is widely credited for being instrumental in the passage of the Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.

She also was a grade school teacher and a founding member of the Rogers Park Community Council.

The name change was effective with Wednesday's vote but comes after nearly two years of efforts by her son, Fred Schein, who gathered historical material to support his proposal for Tobey Prinz Beach Park.

The move to rename the park was initiated by Tobey's son, Fred Schein and endorsed by the Loyola Park Advisory Council. An official renaming ceremony was tentatively scheduled for June 2014 during the annual Artists of the Wall Festival.

"I'm highly appreciative," said Schein, who attended Wednesday's board meeting with other family members. "This wasn't done because somebody knew somebody, this was done on the merits of what my mother had done for the community."