Robert “Bob” Gable, a longtime businessman and prominent figure in the Republican Party of Kentucky, died Friday at the age of 90.
Gable, of Frankfort, died at Baptist Health in Lexington, according to his obituary. He served as chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party for seven years in the 1980s and 1990s and headed the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company, which his great-grandfather, Justus Stearns, founded in 1902.
Gable was born in 1934 in New York City and spent his childhood in Port Orford, Oregon, and Tucson, Arizona. He attended Stanford University, where he graduated in 1956 with an engineering degree.
After graduating, he served in the United States Navy.
Gable and his wife, Emily Brinton Thompson, settled in Stearns, Kentucky, where the couple raised three children and he managed the family’s coal business.
He entered the Kentucky political sphere in the 1960s, helping run political campaigns and serving as commissioner of Kentucky State Parks under former Governor Louie B. Nunn.
In 1972, he lost the race for a seat in the United States Senate. He made a run for the office of governor of Kentucky in 1975 and again in 1995, losing both races.
Several Kentucky Republicans have issued statements mourning Gable’s death and praising his contributions to the Republican Party of Kentucky.
In a statement about
Robert Benvenuti, current chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party, noted how Republicans were the minority party in the General Assembly during Gable’s era of leadership. However, the party now has a supermajority in the legislature.
“When Bob first took the helm of our state party in 1986, the electoral challenges facing Republicans in Kentucky were enormous. At the time, Republicans held only one statewide office and were in the extreme minority in the General Assembly. our party led us as we began laying the groundwork to reshape Kentucky’s political landscape,” Benvenuti wrote.
Gable was preceded in death by his wife, Brinton Thompson, who died in 2017. He is survived by his children, James Gable, Elizabeth Gable Hicks and John Gable, and two grandchildren.
Joseph Gerth contributed. Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or at @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared in the Louisville Courier Journal: Robert ‘Bob’ Gable, Former Chairman of KY Republican Party, Dies
