Starr was the seventh son of Wenzel Gruner and Emily Randall. He was born in Branch County, Michigan 30 August 1878 and died in Los Angeles, California on 16 August 1951. He married (1) Lena Teachout and (2) Marian Taylor.

Of all the children of Wenzel Gruner, Starr was arguably the most gifted of the seven and the most like his father in his amiable and persuasive temperament. He was not yet seven when his father died, but his mother saw to his education and sent him to Europe to continue his studies at Heidelberg University.

He served with the 33rd Michigan Infantry in the Battle of Santiago during the Spanish-American War, and was also a veteran of the First World War. After the latter war, he returned to Coldwater where he became a clothier, a partner in Slomen and Gruner, a retail men’s clothing store. He had an avid interest in politics and at one time was elected mayor of Coldwater. His early marriage to Lena Teachout floundered in the middle 1920s, resulting in a difficult divorce that prompted him to leave Coldwater and move to Santa Barbara, California,

In California, he opened another clothing store and also became active in the American Legion. During an earthquake that heavily damaged Santa Barbara he was one of the most active Legionnaires in organizing volunteer service. He remained interested in community affairs throughout his lifetime and was a member of the city council. He was also an accomplished writer and probably one of the greatest gifts to his family has been lost. When he was in Europe, and with the aid of his Uncle Karl, he traced the Gruner family history for about four hundred years as they moved along the Rhine River to finally settle in Bohemia. He had four copies of the book published, but there was no family interest in funding additional copies. The four copies were lost many years ago.

Starr died in 1951 at the Veterans Hospital in Los Angeles of a stroke that followed cancer and reconstructive surgery. He left no children.