A Starr Has Died

The remake of A Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga, was the number 2 box office movie last weekend. But it was on this date (November 2) fifty years ago that Justice Raymond Starr died.

The Michigan Supreme Court’s Starr was born in 1888, making him 80 years old when he died in 1968. Raymond Starr was born in Harbor Springs, attended Ferris Institute (now Ferris State University), and the University of Michigan Law School. He eventually settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he founded the Legal Aid Bureau. Starr was elected Attorney General in 1936, served two terms, and was appointed to the Michigan Supreme Court by Governor Murray Van Wagoner in May 1941. President Truman later appointed Starr to the US District Court for the Western District of Michigan in 1946 and Starr served there until 1961.

Starr is also infamously known for telling future Governor and fellow Michigan Supreme Court Justice G. Mennen Williams, “when you go campaigning, remember there’s more votes in a bar than in a church.” Our own mid-term elections are just a few days away. No telling where you might see a candidate this weekend…

Read more about Justice Starr in his official biography here>

Starr’s portrait presentation is here>