EDGEWATER — Chicago's neighborhoods are filled with everyday heroes, and on Feb. 18, two of Edgewater's finest will be honored for their dedication and advocacy to the community.
Father Michael Garanzini, former president of Loyola University, will receive the "Pride of Edgewater" award, while Bob Remer, president of the Edgewater Historical Society, will be honored as the neighborhood's "Sweetheart," by the Edgewater Chamber of Commerce.
"What makes people comfortable here, I think a lot of it is, nobody judges other people," Remer said. "I think the people who come here are non-judgmental as it comes to the people in their community. But I've had people tell me, 'Gee people don't look at me like I'm different in this community.'"
The "Pride of Edgewater" award is given to "a distinguished leader serving the Edgewater community who has made an extraordinary contribution" to the community, according to the chamber.
While Garanzini was president, he spearheaded at least $200 million in capital investments in the neighborhood, advocated for Granville Avenue to become a dry district in the wake of problem businesses, and expanded Loyola's police presence past Devon Avenue to Granville.
He also played a crucial role in securing the development of the near 40,000-square-foot St. Ignatius Community Plaza.
Like Garanzini, Remer's contributions to the neighborhood are vast.
Dating back to 1976, Remer said he quickly learned Edgewater was a neighborhood swelling with local activism, particularly in its block club circuit. He joined Edgewater Triangle Neighbors Association and began branching out into other sectors of community politics and activism.
He worked on a number of political campaigns and initiatives over the years, including fighting against corruption and for fair elections with the 48th Ward Democrats, and helped clean up slumlords while also fighting for Edgewater to become its own community area.
Remer was a founding member, and is now president, of the Edgewater Historical Society, and while with the 48th Ward Democrats became the first ward group to create a Gay and Lesbian caucus, he said.
He worked alongside former Ald. Kathy Osterman to create recreation programs for the neighborhood and was among a group of residents who helped buy and preserve Berger Park Cultural Center.
His two proudest moments are hard to sum up, he said, but Edgewater's designation as a community area, coupled with his four-year stint as a democratic committeeman, rank among the top, Remer said.
Still, he said he couldn't, and didn't, do it alone.
"The award isn't really about me," Remer said. "It's these fabulous people you work with, and I'm very honored to be part of a group that accomplishes things, because that's really the history of Edgewater — it's a community that gets together to accomplish things."
It's not just his fellow neighbors who deserve credit, Remer said, his very own "sweetheart" played an essential role, too, Remer said: his late wife Katie, who passed Jan. 27 after a battle with cancer.
A trailblazer in her own right, Remer described his wife as a "pioneer African-American woman" who held numerous degrees and was an avid political campaigner.
Most importantly, he said, she was always by his side.
"My wife had really been a part of everything I did in one way or another," he said. "Whether it was politics or the museum, either she was directly involved or she was giving me advice, or she'd hear what I had to say."
"She told me, 'You just throw yourself into the museum when I'm gone ... Now I want you to keep busy."
And will he?
Probably — he's not really the type to sit around, he said.
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