Cherry Starr, the late Green Bay Packers quarterback and coach Bart’s wife, passed away at the age of 89 following a protracted battle with “various forms of cancer.”
In an online obituary, The Starr Children’s Fund, an endowment the Starrs established to support research on children cancer, stated that she died quietly at her Birmingham, Alabama, home. The cause of death was not stated in the obituary.
Before Bart passed away in 2019, Cherry and Bart were high school sweethearts and were married for more than 60 years.
In addition to winning the first and second Super Bowls in 1967 and 1968, he guided the Packers to league titles in 1961, 1962, 1965, and 1966. In 1966, he won the NFL MVP award, and in 1977, he was admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In addition, he led the Packers as their head coach from 1975 until 1983.
Bart Starr, Jr., three grandsons, and six great-grandchildren survive Cherry. Bret Starrs passed away in 1988.”She served as a metaphorical mother to numerous others,” the Starr Children’s Fund obituary stated.
The pair chaired the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation’s Golf Classic honorably for 44 years, according to the Starr Children’s Fund website. Following Bart’s passing, Cherry carried on his custom of contacting each NFL starting quarterback at the start of the season to request an autographed helmet that would be auctioned off during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September.
“She had the most charming presence ever when she visited our offices,” Former Packers vice president of player personnel Andrew Brandt,
“She would always talk about how much she missed getting up there, until her last breath,” he remarked. “I mentioned in the obituary I wrote today following her death that two of her favorite travel destinations were not Hawaii or Alaska.” The destination was Green Bay.
“We were aware that Mom had been battling multiple cancers for an extended period of time, and we knew that the combined impact of the cancer and the treatments would eventually have a negative impact on her health,” he continued.
“We weren’t gullible about it, and the good news is she battled it for a very long time; her health really only started to decline in the last few weeks.” “I hope we’re all that lucky to have made it to nearly 90 years old with only a real struggle of two to three weeks,” the speaker said.