Elizabeth Parrish Starr

Elizabeth Parrish Starr (April 29, 1889 – 1943) was an American heiress who volunteered in Europe during both World War I and World War II, dying from starvation at the end of the second.

Early life and education Elizabeth (Elisabeth) Parrish Starr was born on April 29, 1889, at 1504 Walnut Avenue, Philadelphia. She was the daughter of Louis Starr (1849-1925), a doctor, who was one of the first to establish paediatrics as a branch and son of Isaac Starr, a banker, Dillwyn Parrish, the American writer, illustrator, and painter, was a cousin.

In 1907, she attended schools in Europe.

Career In 1909, Starr became engaged with Stewart Robinson, the nephew of President Theodore Roosevelt and a Harvard fellow student to Starr's brother Dillwyn. Soon afterward, Robinson died in a strange accident, falling down from a window dorm. Starr, Head of Reconstruction of the Civilian Section of the Somme region, was decorated by the French government with a silver medal, the Médaille de la Reconnaissance Francaise.