Kenneth Winston Starr, former U.S. solicitor general under former President George H. W. Bush, passed away Tuesday due to complications from surgery.
He died in Houston at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, per the Waco Tribune-Herald.
Starr was known for his independent counsel investigation into then-President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, which led to the former president becoming the second president in U.S. history to be impeached.
He later served as Baylor University’s president from 2010 to 2016, also becoming its chancellor in 2013.
“Judge Starr was a dedicated public servant and ardent supporter of religious freedom that allows faith-based institutions such as Baylor to flourish,” said Baylor President Linda Livingstone in a statement.
She continued, “Ken and I served together as Deans at Pepperdine University in the 2000s, and I appreciated him as a Constitutional law scholar and a fellow academician who believed in the transformative power of higher education.”
“Baylor University and the Baylor Family express our deepest sympathies to [the Starr family], and our prayers remain with them as they mourn the loss of a husband, father, and grandfather. May God’s peace and comfort surround them and give them strength now, and in the days to come,” concluded Livingstone.
Among Starr’s accomplishments in life was his assistance in establishing the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, strengthening the partnership between the Baylor College of Medicine and the Baylor Scott & White Health hospital system.
However, his work investigating former President Clinton will likely go down as the most significant marker of his legacy.
Starr was 76 years old when he died.