Ken Starr Facts for Kids

Academic posts 2004–⁠2016

Chancellor of Baylor University
In office November 11, 2013 – June 1, 2016
Preceded by	Robert B. Sloan (2006)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
President of Baylor University
In office June 1, 2010 – May 31, 2016
Preceded by	John M. Lilley
Succeeded by	Linda Livingstone
Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law
In office August 1, 2004 – June 1, 2010
Preceded by	Charles Nelson
Succeeded by	Tom Bost

Personal details

Born

Kenneth Winston Starr

July 21, 1946
Vernon, Texas, U.S.

Died

September 13, 2022 (aged 76)
Houston, Texas, U.S.

Political party

Republican

Other political
affiliations

Democratic (before 1975)

Spouse

Alice Mendell

(m. 1970)

Children

Education

George Washington University (BA)
Brown University (MA)
Duke University (JD)

Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer who has also been a United States circuit judge and U.S. solicitor general. He was the former president and chancellor of Baylor University, and formerly held the Louise L. Morrison chair of constitutional law at Baylor University Law School. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration.

Early life
Education
Legal career
Baylor University
Death
Images for kids
See also

Early life

Starr was born near Vernon, Texas, and was raised in Centerville. Starr attended Sam Houston High School in San Antonio and was a popular, straight‑A student. His classmates voted him most likely to succeed.

In 1970, Starr married Alice Mendell, who was raised Jewish but converted to Christianity.

Education

Starr attended the Church of Christ–affiliated Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, where he was an honor student, a member of the Young Democrats and a vocal supporter of Vietnam protesters. He later transferred to George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, in 1968. While there, he became a member of Delta Phi Epsilon.

Starr was not drafted for military service during the Vietnam War, as he was classified 4‑F, because he has psoriasis. He worked in the Southwestern Advantage entrepreneurial program and later attended Brown University, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in 1969, and then Duke University School of Law, earning a J.D. in 1973.

Legal career

After his graduation from Duke, Starr worked as a law clerk for U.S. circuit judge David W. Dyer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1973–74). Later, he clerked for chief justice Warren Burger of the Supreme Court of the United States (1975–77).

He joined the Washington, D.C., office of the Los Angeles–based law firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher in 1977. He was appointed counselor to U.S. attorney general William French Smith in 1981.

On September 13, 1983, he was nominated by Ronald Reagan to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 20, 1983 and received the commission on September 20, 1983. His service terminated on May 26, 1989, due to resignation.

Starr was the United States solicitor general, from 1989 to 1993, under George H. W. Bush.

He received the most publicity for his tenure as Independent Counsel while Bill Clinton was U.S. president. Starr was appointed to investigate the death of deputy White House counsel Vince Foster and the Whitewater real estate investments of Bill Clinton. The three-judge panel charged with administering the Independent Counsel Act later expanded the inquiry into numerous areas including suspected perjury by Bill Clinton's. After several years of investigation, Starr filed the Starr Report, which alleged that Bill Clinton had lied during a sworn deposition. This led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the five-year suspension of Clinton's law license.

Baylor University

Starr was the Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, when on February 15, 2010, Baylor University announced that it would introduce Starr as its newest president. Starr became Baylor's 14th president, replacing John Lilley who was ousted in mid‑2008. Starr was introduced as the new president on June 1, 2010.

His inauguration was held on September 17, 2010, where Stephen L. Carter was the keynote speaker. Within his first two weeks in office, Starr was "leading the charge" to keep the university in the Big 12 Conference for athletics. Starr was additionally named chancellor of Baylor in November 2013, a post that had been vacant since 2005. He became the first person to hold the positions of president and chancellor at Baylor at the same time.

Starr announced his resignation as Chancellor on June 1, 2016. He resigned his position as the Louise L. Morrison Chair of Constitutional Law in Baylor Law School on August 19, 2016.