Eugene Francis Heil was born March 25, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Louise Caroline Lieber and Walter Heil. He was later taken into guardianship by his grandmother, Anna Louise Moran. He began the study of the violin at eight, and became concertmeister of the St. Louis Philharmonic by sixteen. After high school, he served with the Navy Seabees in the South Pacific (New Guinea and the Philippines) during the Second World War. He was battalion photographer and later took up the medium as fine art.

After two years of military service, Heil attended Parsons School of Design in New York City for three years; he also spent a term at the Parsons Atelier in Paris, which included an extensive tour of the arts of France and Italy. In 1950, Heil became a protégé of Lady Mendl at Versailles, and later, of Andre Ostier in Paris. He photographed members of the French government and aristocracy for French magazines. Heil photographed mainly fashion and architecture in Europe, Africa, North and South America.

Over the years, Heil was a photographer for the National Audubon Society, from 1946 to 1949, and for Ostier Associates, from 1949 to 1952; and a Public Relations Officer for the U.S. Army, from 1952 to 1954. He founded Gene Heil Studios (for General Commercial Photography and Interior Design) in 1954, and it remained open until his death.

Heil joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 1963. He used his experience in photography to capture images of the World's Fair held in New York, at which he photographed the exhibits created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As of May 1967, he was Assistant to the Director of the Research Project on World Music within the School of International Affairs of Columbia University. He was also employed with Aladdin Business Service (seasonal sales of resort brochures, postcards, photography, and commemorative Church books), from 1963 to 1968. He married Lillian Elenora Harmon June 10, 1967. He died in an automobile accident a year later on June 20, 1968 near Harrietstown, New York.