Miller was born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved with his family to
Las Vegas, Nevada as a child. His father, Ross Miller, was a bookmaker, who, according to his son's 2013 autobiography,
Son of a Gambling Man, had operated on both sides of the law on some of the meaner streets of industrial Chicago. Bob Miller attended Roman Catholic schools. He graduated from
Bishop Gorman High School in 1963 with honors, and from
Santa Clara University in 1967, earning a degree in political science. He received his
J.D. degree from
Loyola Law School in
Los Angeles, California. Miller served in the
U.S. Army Reserve from 1967 to 1973, and later in the
U.S. Air Force Reserve. He served as Clark County Deputy District Attorney from 1971 to 1973. In 1978, Miller was elected Clark County District Attorney, and in 1982 became the first holder of that office to win re-election. He was president of the National District Attorneys Association in 1984. Miller was elected the 29th
Lieutenant Governor of Nevada in 1986 and was sworn in for a four-year term on January 5, 1987. ==Governor of Nevada (1989–1999)==