Ken Starr dead at 76

WACO, Texas (KWTX) – Ken Starr, the former president of Baylor University who earned nationwide notoriety as the independent counsel who headed the investigation that led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, died Tuesday after a lengthy illness.

Starr, who served as Baylor president from June 2010 to May 2016, was 76.

A sixth-generation Texan, Starr was born Kenneth Winston Starr in Vernon, the son of a minister who sold Bibles door-to-door to earn money for college.

Starr earned a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University in 1968, a master’s degree from Brown University the following year and a juris doctor degree from Duke University in 1973. Starr served as law clerk to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger from 1975 to 1977 and as law clerk to 5th U.S. Circuit Judge David W. Dyer from 1973 to 1974.

Starr argued 36 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including 25 cases during his service as solicitor general of the United States from 1989 to 1993. He also served as U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989.

“Judge Starr was a consummate legal scholar and gentleman. It was a privilege to have been associated with him and to have known him. We have lost a giant,” said retired judge Ralph Strother.

Two years ago, Starr was a member of former President Donald Trump’s defense team for Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate. Trump was acquitted. more