Kenneth Starr, Investigator Behind Clinton Impeachment, Dies At 76

HOUSTON, TX — Kenneth Starr, who oversaw the investigation that resulted in former president Bill Clinton's impeachment, is dead at 76. He died Tuesday of complications from surgery at Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center in Houston, according to his family.

Starr spent five years as independent counsel for the Whitewater investigation. From 1994-99, he probed fraudulent real estate deals involving an associate of Clinton's, scrutinized the removal of documents from deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster's office following Foster's death, and compiled evidence of Clinton's sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, according to the Associated Press. Clinton was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

Starr also helped represent former president Donald Trump in his 2020 impeachment trial.

"He was a brilliant litigator, an impressive leader, and a devoted patriot,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said of Starr in a prepared statement.

Starr was the youngest person to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit at age 37, the Associated Press reported. He argued 36 cases before the Supreme Court, including 25 during his time as solicitor general to former president George H.W. Bush.

Starr later took on the role of Baylor University’s 14th president, but was removed from the position six years into his tenure following the discovery that the school had mishandled sexual assault accusations brought against football players, The Washington Post reported.

"Over four decades I have known Ken as 'Judge Starr,' 'Dean Starr,' 'President Starr,' 'Uncle Ken,' but most importantly 'dear friend,' to me, my family, our firm, our clients, American justice, and world justice," Mark Lanier, of the Lanier Law Firm, where Starr was recently of counsel, said in a news release.

Starr was born July 21, 1946, to William D. Starr and Vannie Trimble Starr. He grew up in San Antonio where his father was a barber and minister. After graduating from San Antonio's Sam Houston High School, he earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University and a master's degree in political science from Brown University, before obtaining a law degree from Duke University Law School. He married Alice Jean Mendell of Mamaroneck, New York, on Aug. 23, 1970, and is survived by his wife and three children.