Roger Raymond STARN

1927 - 2019

Hospital Administrator and Visionary Beloved Husband, Father, "Bapa" and Great-grandfather Roger was born in Minneapolis on June 18, 1927 to Oscar and Ethel (Dixon) Starn. Sister Barbara came four years later. Graduating from Washburn High School in 1945, he served in the Navy for 15 months, then studied pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. (His father operated Starn Drug at 4th & Franklin in Minneapolis.) Having accepted an ROTC commission to complete his studies ("we just had a war, we won't have another"), Starn served in the Army from 1951-53 during the Korean Conflict. After his discharge he passed through San Antonio, TX, where he met the love of his life, Priscilla Schwartz. They wed in October 1953, and had three children: Jeff, Kathleen, and Janet. In Korea, he recalled, "I was connected with medical units and developed an interest in health care on a broader field." So he returned to the U of M, joining James Hamilton's Health Care Administration program, graduating in 1955. Roger served for one year at Northwestern Hospital under his preceptor, Russell Nye. Moving to Portland, Oregon, he worked at Good Samaritan Hospital for two years before accepting a position at St. Luke's in St. Paul. He succeeded his boss Helen Rosenwald as chief administrator in 1963. Surveying the ever-evolving hospital and health care landscape, he understood the impending need for the dozens of ethnic- and faith-based hospitals to merge rather than competing for resources. According to his longtime friend and colleague Dick Blair, the consolidation of St. Luke's and Miller into United Hospitals "wouldn't have happened" without Roger's humility and vision. "He initiated the conversation with Miller and accepted being number two." The current United & Children's Hospital facility "would never have been built without Roger. He guided it through the Certificate of Need process and got all the St. Paul hospital CEOs to sign on." And "already back in the '70s, he predicted all the mergers that would happen, that we'd be down to five or six health care systems. No one believed him." Roger retired after construction was completed; he and Priscilla spent many joyous years traveling the country and the world, making new friends wherever they went. But he was happiest when he held court in the presence of his growing family, especially providing guidance (aka unsolicited advice) to his children and grandchildren. "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" and "What's your Plan B?" became family memes. In his final years he worked with others to record the history of Twin Cities hospital mergers, culminating in a book, Consolidations and Giants. Roger died on his 92nd birthday, surrounded by family. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, and one grandchild. Left to mourn his passing are his wife, his children and their spouses, 5 grand children, and 7 great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 11am on Saturday, July 6 at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley. Please designate memorials to Feed My Starving Children or Shepherd of the Valley Missions fund.