Starr was noted for his role in the demise of the Arkansas Gazette during the 1980s and his criticism of President Bill Clinton including popularizing the term "Slick Willie".
Starr served as bureau chief during the controversial period under Governor Orval Faubus and was responsible for reporting the social changes sweeping the state during the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the critical Little Rock Crisis of 1957-58.
Soon after his arrival at the Democrat, he posed for the Arkansas Times May 1979 magazine cover with a helmet on his head and with a knife clenched between his teeth squatting atop a Gazette newspaper rack.
The Democrat adopted a free classified ad program and switched from an afternoon to a morning paper in order to compete directly with the Gazette.
The Gazette underwent a long decline and was passed through several owners before being purchased by Hussman in 1991 and folded into the Democrat operation to form the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
President Bill Clinton released this statement from the White House upon hearing of Starr's death in April 2000.