Chuck's book on Planemakers of Western Pennsylvania can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/Planemakers-Western-Pennsylvania-Environs-Charles/dp/0936340061

An article in the New York Times describing Chuck's work with changing Continuing-Care Communities can be found at:

Charles Wilson Prine, Jr., age 87, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania died 2014 peacefully at home with his family after a brief illness.

Chuck Prine was born April 23, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest child of Mabel Elizabeth Kerr, the red haired, refined daughter of a Presbyterian minister and Charles Wilson Prine, the son of an Ohio farmer who became a professor of physics at Carnegie Institute of Technology.

Chuck spent his childhood in Pittsburgh with his younger siblings Calvin and Mary Helen.  He enjoyed long summer visits to his grandmother’s farm in Ohio. Chuck’s interest in writing began early when he became editor of his high school newspaper. After graduation he served in the U.S. Navy before attending Princeton.  He was the president of the University Press Club and graduated from Princeton with a degree in English in 1948.

Chuck then began his journalistic career with the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph covering the police beat, the courthouses, City Hall, politics, civic affairs and ultimately becoming editor of special supplements and editorial writer, while also doing freelance magazine writing.

Chuck and his first wife Irma (Cathy) Cathcart, married in 1950, after she graduated from Chatham with a degree in philosophy. They had six children together. The family settled in Mt. Lebanon where Chuck spear headed several efforts to provide better opportunities for blacks in their predominately white suburb, including housing and teaching jobs. The Prines enjoyed sixteen years of carefree summer vacations on the shores of Lake Erie with their dear friends and family.  Cathy was tragically killed in a car accident on Christmas Day in 1968.

Chuck’s career shifted and he became a public relations executive for twelve years.  He then joined Ryan Homes and helped develop low and middle income housing programs in Pittsburgh.  He eventually became the senior vice president of Ryan Homes as it grew to be one of the nations largest homebuilders.

Chuck’s second marriage was to Elizabeth (Liz) Erskine in 1969, who helped raise his children while becoming the youngest woman to serve on the national board of the YWCA. Liz’s life was also tragically cut short when she died of cancer in 1982.

Chuck married Elizabeth (Betsy) Waite in the summer of 1983. Together they have shared the joys of grandchildren, travel, yearly gatherings for family vacations, as well as birding adventures and a passion for genealogy. They became snow birds, spending many winters in beautiful Savannah, Georgia and summers in their shared hometown of Pittsburgh.

Chuck Prine was a life long civic leader.  He served as an elder with Bower Hill Community Church. Chuck committed endless hours to work on the boards of numerous organizations including serving as the president of Action-Housing Inc., and a board member with Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. He believed strongly in the principles of integrity and generosity and was committed to making a significant contribution to the welfare of his community. In recent years Chuck advocated on behalf of older Americans who were unaware of the devastating risks of their investments in continuing care retirement communities.  He testified on this issue for the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging in July of 2012 and was featured in the New York Times and The Chicago Tribune. 

There were many interests and hobbies that filled Chuck’s active, involved lifestyle.  For years he was involved in harness racing, photos from the Winners Circle were framed in the halls. Chuck was an avid, competitive tennis player who was on the courts into his early 80’s. He spent decades collecting antique tools, concentrating on antique wooden planes.  Chuck is the author of a book,Planemakers of Western Pennsylvania and Environs, and donated his collection of more than 200 planes, among them some of the oldest documented items made in the Pittsburgh region, to the Heinz History Center where they are part of the permanent collection.

The most valued aspect of Chuck’s life was his relationships.  He had close friendships that sustained from his childhood, his Princeton years, from when he had small children, from his years in Savannah and from his newest community at Concordia.  Chuck loved a good conversation, a meal with friends and never hesitated to pick up the phone.  Most of  all he cherished his family.  He loved his wife and was proud that his children and grandchildren became independent people who were accountable to their communities and worked to serve others.  

He is survived by his wife of thirty years, Elizabeth Waite Prine, his children, Dr. Linda Prine of New York City,  Janet Rivera and husband Benny Rivera of Gypsum Colorado, Karen Prine and her companion Michael Latham of Berryville, Virginia, Barbara Prine and her husband Paul Fleckenstein of Burlington, Vermont and Alison Prine and her wife Kelley Goulette of Burlington, Vermont as well as his grandchildren, Danny Rivera and wife Amanda, Jacob Rivera and wife Katie, Autumn Rivera, Nathan Smith and his partner Sonoka Ito, Sam Smith, Henry Prine and Mabel Prine and his great grandchild, Elizabeth Rivera.  He is also survived by his brother, Calvin Prine of Granville, Ohio, his sister, Mary Helen Kelly of Tempe, Arizona, and his sister-in-law, Nancy Kahn and her husband Dr. Sherman Kahn of Davidson, North Carolina.  He is predeceased by his son, Roger Prine of Charlottesville Virginia.