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Heleringer was born in the week between the [[Kentucky Derby]] and the [[Preakness]] races. His maternal grandfather from whom he acquired his middle name, Leo O'Donnell (1896-1993), was a thoroughbred trainer who co-founded the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Heleringer's mother and his siblings raced horses in the 1990's and early 2000's and acquired a winner in "Put Me In." Heleringer worked as a parimutuel betting and racing official at various locations while he attended the Roman Catholic [[Xavier University]] in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], from which he graduated in 1973. He then enrolled at the [[University of Louisville]] School of Law, at which he was the editor of the student newspaper. He graduated in 1976 and immediately launched his law practice. In 2000, he was named an "Honored Alumnus" by his law school.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.equineregulatorylaw.com/robert_l_heleringer_biography.php|title=Biography of Robert L. "Bob" Heleringer|publisher=equineregulatorylaw.com|accessdate=February 6, 2016}}</ref>
Heleringer was born in the week between the [[Kentucky Derby]] and the [[Preakness]] races. His maternal grandfather from whom he acquired his middle name, Leo O'Donnell (1896-1993), was a thoroughbred trainer who co-founded the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Heleringer's mother and his siblings raced horses in the 1990's and early 2000's and acquired a winner in "Put Me In." Heleringer worked as a parimutuel betting and racing official at various locations while he attended the Roman Catholic [[Xavier University]] in [[Cincinnati]], [[Ohio]], from which he graduated in 1973. He then enrolled at the [[University of Louisville]] School of Law, at which he was the editor of the student newspaper. He graduated in 1976 and immediately launched his law practice. In 2000, he was named an "Honored Alumnus" by his law school.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.equineregulatorylaw.com/robert_l_heleringer_biography.php|title=Biography of Robert L. "Bob" Heleringer|publisher=equineregulatorylaw.com|accessdate=February 6, 2016}}</ref>
When he was campaigning in 1979 for the legislature in the same election in which Louie B. Nunn unsuccessfully sought to return to the governorship, Heleringer met Cynthia "Cindy" Carby, a young woman whom he signed up to vote. Despite some reservation from her father, the couple married the next year and had four children in eight years: Sarah (1981), Ann (1982), Tommy (1984), and Philip (1989). Heleringer told his bride that while they might not become wealthy, life would never be dull. With their children all grown, the Heleringers refurbished his boyhood home in St. Matthews, where they reside. They also spend part of the year in [[Vermont]].<ref name=bio/>
==Political life==
==Political life==
In his twenties, Heleringer campaigned for fellow Republicans [[Gene Snyder]], a [[U.S. Representative]] for Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and [[Jon Ackerson]], a state senator and later state representative for Jefferson County who successfully recommended Heleringer for the position as "administrative assistant" to the then eight-member Republican Senate Caucus, long before the Republicans obtained the majority in the state Senate in 2000.<ref name=bio/> In the 1979 state election, Heleringer in a vigorous campaign unseated the Democratic Representative Bob Benson. Heleringer ran as a staunch opponent of [[abortion]], which had been legalized in all states six years earlier by the since overturned [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uK4fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=qSfnlc7jjp&sig=ksoJiwVVm8iu4CNfGbG2AEu74lo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrrpqzjujKAhXLJCYKHWFqBJ84HhDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false
In his twenties, Heleringer campaigned for fellow Republicans [[Gene Snyder]], a [[U.S. Representative]] for Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and [[Jon Ackerson]], a state senator and later state representative for Jefferson County who successfully recommended Heleringer for the position as "administrative assistant" to the then eight-member Republican Senate Caucus, long before the Republicans obtained the majority in the state Senate in 2000.<ref name=bio/> In the 1979 state election, Heleringer in a vigorous campaign unseated the Democratic Representative Bob Benson. Heleringer ran as a staunch opponent of [[abortion]], which had been legalized in all states six years earlier by the since overturned [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uK4fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=qSfnlc7jjp&sig=ksoJiwVVm8iu4CNfGbG2AEu74lo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrrpqzjujKAhXLJCYKHWFqBJ84HhDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false
|title=The Kentucky Legislature: Two Decades of Change|author=Malcolm E. Jewell and Penny M. Miller|publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]]|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|page=31|date=1988|isbn=0-8131-1668-6|accessdate=February 9, 2016}}</ref> Unlike most opponents of abortion, Heleringer also opposed [[capital punishment]]: "I think it's wrong to take a life regardless of what that person has done." He compared lethal injection]] to "sanitizing" legal executions.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YvdKyEJo0osC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=X3Z9_vRk2x&sig=k40IBr0B_ahTXL8Jtom40ugQG6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8y--J4PjKAhVFKiYKHXiKC1c4HhDoAQg3MAU#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false|title=Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998|author=Kathleen A. O'Shea|publisher=Praeger: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.|location=[[Westport, Connecticut]]|date=1999|page=179|accessdate=February 18, 2016|isbn=0-275-95952-X}}</ref>
|title=The Kentucky Legislature: Two Decades of Change|author=Malcolm E. Jewell and Penny M. Miller|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|page=31|date=1988|isbn=0-8131-1668-6|accessdate=February 9, 2016}}</ref> Unlike most opponents of abortion, Heleringer also opposed [[capital punishment]]: "I think it's wrong to take a life regardless of what that person has done." He compared lethal injection]] to "sanitizing" legal executions.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YvdKyEJo0osC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=X3Z9_vRk2x&sig=k40IBr0B_ahTXL8Jtom40ugQG6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8y--J4PjKAhVFKiYKHXiKC1c4HhDoAQg3MAU#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false|title=Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998|author=Kathleen A. O'Shea|publisher=Praeger: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.|location=[[Westport, Connecticut]]|date=1999|page=179|accessdate=February 18, 2016|isbn=0-275-95952-X}}</ref>
As a legislator, Heleringer was the vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, from which berth he became known for criticism of excessive state spending on contracts. He has worked for organizations which represent the disabled and the horse industry. In 1985, Representative Heleringer was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for [[mayor]] of Louisville]]; he lost to the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Jerry Abramson]], who was subsequently the first Louisville Metro Mayor. In 2007, Heleringer was the unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/politics/labels/state%20senate.html|title=Heleringer to run for [State] Senate|date=June 13, 2007|publisher=''The Louisville Courier-Journal''|accessdate=March 14, 2012}}</ref> on an intra-party ticket headed by [[Steve Nunn]] of Barren County, the son of former [[Governor]] [[Louie B. Nunn]]. Steve Nunn, who had entered the legislature at the same time as Heleringer, lost the gubernatorial nomination to U.S. Representative [[Ernie Fletcher]], a physician who then became the first Republican to win the Kentucky governorship since Louie B. Nunn in 1967. Steve Nunn is now serving a life sentence for the [[murder]] of a former fiancée.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky/|title=Former Governor's Son In Custody After Fatal Shooting|date=September 11, 2009|publisher=[[WLEX-TV]] via [[MSNBC.com]]|accessdate=September 11, 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914155552/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky|archivedate=September 14, 2009}}</ref>
As a legislator, Heleringer was the vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, from which berth he became known for criticism of excessive state spending on contracts. He has worked for organizations which represent the disabled and the horse industry. In 1985, Representative Heleringer was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for [[mayor]] of Louisville]]; he lost to the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Jerry Abramson]], who was subsequently the first Louisville Metro Mayor. In 2007, Heleringer was the unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/politics/labels/state%20senate.html|title=Heleringer to run for [State] Senate|date=June 13, 2007|publisher=''The Louisville Courier-Journal''|accessdate=March 14, 2012}}</ref> on an intra-party ticket headed by [[Steve Nunn]] of Barren County, the son of former [[Governor]] [[Louie B. Nunn]]. Steve Nunn, who had entered the legislature at the same time as Heleringer, lost the gubernatorial nomination to U.S. Representative [[Ernie Fletcher]], a physician who then became the first Republican to win the Kentucky governorship since Louie B. Nunn in 1967. Steve Nunn is now serving a life sentence for the [[murder]] of a former fiancée.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky/|title=Former Governor's Son In Custody After Fatal Shooting|date=September 11, 2009|publisher=[[WLEX-TV]] via [[MSNBC.com]]|accessdate=September 11, 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914155552/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky|archivedate=September 14, 2009}}</ref>