Gilbert Lynel Dozier was born on March 19, 1934 in the rural fields in Beauregard Parish in southwest Louisiana. He was the son of A.J. Dozier and Sylvia Mae Hennigan. Dozier played basketball from 1952 to 1955 while attending the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1955. From 1957 to 1959, he served in the United States Air Force, attaining the rank of captain and then lieutenant colonel. He commanded aircraft in military transport service and flew missions to South Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Southeast Asia, and the Bering Strait. From 1965 through 1980, he was a member of the Air Force Reserve. After his military career, he graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He taught in the Reserve Officers Training Corps program while earning his Juris Doctor degree at night.

Dozier was an attorney, businessman, farmer, and rancher who served from 1976 to 1980 as the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry.