Robert “Bob” Gable, former chairman of the KY Republican Party, has died

Robert “Bob” Gablebusinessman and prominent figure in the Kentucky Republican Party for years, died Friday at age 90.

Gable, of Frankfort, died at Baptist Health in Lexington, according to him obituary. He was chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky 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.

He went on to serve in the US Navy after graduating from college.

Gable and his wife, Emily Brinton Thompson, settled in Stearns, Kentucky, where the couple raised three children and he ran the family’s coal business.

He entered Kentucky politics in the 1960s, helping to run political campaigns and serving as Kentucky State Parks Commissioner under former Governor Louie B. Nunn.

In 1972, he lost the race for a seat in the US Senate. He ran for governor of Kentucky in 1975 and again in 1995, losing both races.

Several Kentucky Republicans issued statements mourning Gable’s death and praising his contributions to the Kentucky Republican Party.

One statement about Xsaid Attorney General Russell Coleman, “The Republican Party of Kentucky today, and those of us privileged to serve our Commonwealth in office, stand on the shoulders of the great Bob Gable.”

Robert Benvenuti, the current chairman of the Republican Party of Kentucky, noted how Republicans were the minority party in the General Assembly during the Gable era. However, the party now holds 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 daunting. At the time, Republicans held only one statewide office and were in the extreme minority in the General Assembly. However, Bob’s unwavering commitment to our party guided us as we began laying the groundwork to reshape Kentucky’s political landscape.” wrote Benvenuti.

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 [email protected] or @bkillian72 on X.