Robert Elledy Gable (February 20, 1934 – November 29, 2024) was an American businessman from Frankfort, who was the

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Republican

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

nominee A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group or election to an office, in which case a ...

in 1975. Gable lost to the incumbent Democratic governor

Julian Carroll Julian Morton Carroll (April 16, 1931 – December 10, 2023) was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Kentucky. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 54th governor of Kentucky from 1974 to 1979, succeeding Wendell F ...

. Carroll received 470,159 votes (62.8 percent) to Gable's 277,998 (37.2 percent). In 1995, Gable again sought the governor's office but lost by a large margin in the Republican primary. With Shirley W. Palmer-Ball, his 1975 running mate reprising that role, Gable lost the primary with 17,054 votes (14.5 percent) to

Larry Forgy Lawrence Eugene Forgy (August 4, 1939 – January 13, 2022) was an American Republican politician and gubernatorial candidate from Lexington, Kentucky. Forgy served as the Budget Director for Governor Louie Nunn from 1967 to 1971. Career Forg ...

and

Tom Handy Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

's 97,099 votes (82.4 percent). Forgy, as the Republican nominee, was then defeated in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

by Democrat

Paul E. Patton Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second te ...

. Gable formerly resided in Stearns in

McCreary County McCreary County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,888. Its county seat is Whitley City. The county is named for James B. McCreary, a Confederate war soldier and two-time Governor ...

in south Kentucky. Gable is the great-grandson of Justus S. Stearns, founder and owner of Stearns Coal and Lumber Company. He, along with his wife, Emily T. Gable, and family, moved in 1968 to serve as Parks Commissioner in the administration of Governor

Louie Nunn Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and ...

. He was a chairman of the

Kentucky Republican Party The Republican Party of Kentucky is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Kentucky and follows its nationally established platform. The party's headquarters is in Frankfort, Kentucky. The party gained relevance around the 1940s, though Kentu ...

for seven years.
Emily Gable
', Obituaries, Courier-Journal In 2008, Gable was an at-large elector for the McCain/

Palin The surname Palin is a name of British origin, either English or Welsh. Possible derivations include an anglicization of the Welsh patronymic ''ap Heilyn'' ("son of Heilyn") or a reference to the English placenames Poling, West Sussex or Sea Palli ...

ticket, which won a majority in Kentucky. Gable was married to Emily Thompson from 1958 until her death in 2017. He died November 29, 2024, at the age of 90, in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

References

1934 births 2024 deaths Businesspeople from Kentucky Businesspeople from New York City Kentucky Republicans People from McCreary County, Kentucky Politicians from Frankfort, Kentucky Politicians from New York City Stanford University alumni 2008 United States presidential electors 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century Kentucky politicians {{Kentucky-politician-stub