According to a news release from Starr’s family, Starr passed away on Tuesday at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, Texas, from complications after surgery.
Starr was a Reagan judicial appointee, he was solicitor general under then-President George H.W. Bush, President and Chancellor of Baylor University and Dean of the Pepperdine School of Law, according to the news release.
He argued 36 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and 25 of those were when he served as U.S. Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993, according to the news release.
Starr was best known for leading the Whitewater case which started as a probe of real estate investments by then-President Bil Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton, according to CNBC. The investigation reached other areas including the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that went into the president’s extramarital affair with the White House intern. Clinton was impeached by the House on perjury and obstruction of justice charges but was later acquitted by the Senate of all charges.
Starr is survived by his wife Alice Mendell Starr, whom he was married to for 52 years, according to the news release. He is also survived by his three children, Randall P. Starr, Carolyn S. Doolittle and Cynthia S. Roemer, plus his nine grandchildren.
The news release said that Starr will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas, on September 24.
“The world will remember Ken Starr as a brilliant thinker, leader, and defender of truth and justice. I will remember Ken Starr as a devoted personal friend and a man of sincere and deep faith. Thank you, Ken, for your love of God, your love of family and your love for all of us. You will always be remembered in American history, but you will be specifically remembered in our hearts,” said Antioch Community Church’s Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert in the news release.
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Photos: Ken Starr through the years 1997: American lawyer and judge Kenneth Starr resigns after Whitewater scandal in February 1997. (Amy Toensing/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 1998: Kenneth Starr, the independent prosecutor investigating President Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, gets into his car July 29, 1998, at his home in McClean, Va. Starr agreed to grant immunity to Lewinsky in return for her cooperation in the investigation. (Dave Tracy/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 1998: Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr (center) is sworn in before the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 19, 1998. Starr testified that President Bill Clinton misused the office of the presidency to illegally interfere with the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and Starr's criminal investigations. (WIN MCNAMEE/AFP via Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2002: Attorney and former Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr talks to the media in front of the U.S. Supreme Court February 20, 2002, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2007: Lawyer Kenneth Starr (right) speaks, while Deborah Morse (left) listens, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building March 19, 2007, in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court is hearing a case over free speech rights in U.S. high schools after a student in Juneau, Alaska, hung a banner saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" in January 2002 in front of television cameras. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2009: Attorneys Gloria Allred (left) and Kenneth Starr joke before proceedings start inside the California Supreme Court Building as arguments are heard for and against Proposition 8 on March 5, 2009, in San Francisco. (Paul Sakuma-Pool/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2014: Baylor University President and Chancellor Ken Starr runs onto the field with the Baylor Line before their game against the Kansas State Wildcats on December 6, 2014, at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2018: Former Independent Counsel Ken Starr answers questions during a discussion held at the American Enterprise Institute on September 18, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Starr spoke on the topic of "Special Counsels and the Presidency: A Conversation With Ken Starr on the Role of the Constitution and the Ongoing Mueller Investigation." (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2020: In this screengrab taken from a Senate Television webcast, Legal Counsel for President Donald Trump Ken Starr speaks during impeachment proceedings against Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol on January 27, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Senate Television via Getty Images)
Photos: Ken Starr through the years 2020: Ken Starr, personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, departs the U.S. Capitol on February 3, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Edelman/Getty Images)
