Asher practiced law in Atlanta until 1954, when he moved to Florida to accept a position as the assistant football coach for Stetson University.[2] He would later become a hotelier and business owner in Daytona Beach. Asher owned and operated a string of nightclubs, businesses and hotels in the city, including the Safari Beach Motel.[2]
During the early 1960s, the city of Fort Lauderdale, located more than 200 miles south of Daytona Beach, became a popular Spring Break destination with American college students. However, due to the large number of students, relations between the thousands of college students and Fort Lauderdale became strained.[2] Asher, along with other Daytona Beach business and political leaders, began a campaign to attract some of Fort Lauderdale's spring breakers to Daytona.[2] in 1962, Asher and other area businessmen began driving to colleges, where they distributed postcards, brochures and other materials promoting Daytona Beach as a Spring Break destination.[2][4] They also hired airplanes, which dropped ping-pong balls advertising Daytona Beach onto college campuses, a tradition which is still practiced by spring breakers in the city today.[2] Each of the ping-pong balls were inscribed with "Get on the Ball and Come to Daytona Beach."[4]
The campaign succeeded in transforming Daytona Beach into a major Spring Break destination. Asher did have detractors and critics, who accused him of promoting Daytona Beach as a ""beer-can mentality" destination for college students, rather than promoting the city as a place for family friendly vacationers.[2] However, Asher's efforts earned him the nickname, "Father of Spring Break," within Daytona Beach.[2]
In 1983, he was elected a city commissioner representing District 2, an office he held for the next twelve years, from 1983 to 1995.[1][3][4]
Bud Asher was first elected Mayor of Daytona Beach in 1995.[5] Asher's predecessor, incumbent Paul Carpenella, who served as mayor from 1993 to 1995, failed to gain enough votes in the primary to advance to the mayoral general election.[5] Asher raised more than $60,000 for his first mayoral campaign.[6] Asher defeated his 1995 general election challenger, former city Public Works Director Tom McClelland, by approximately 600 votes in the municipal election.[5] He was sworn into office on November 7, 1995.[6] He was re-elected in 1997, 1999, and 2001, before retiring from office in 2003.[7]
He was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000.[2] He called games as a commentator and sports announcer on WNDB 1150 for the last two years of his life.[3]
Bud Asher died from prostate cancer at his home on the Halifax River in Daytona Beach at 9 PM on July 5, 2013, at the age of 88.[3][4] He was survived by his wife of 27 years, Dawn Ioviero Asher; his children from his previous marriage, Marybeth Asher-Lawson and Baron "Ron" Asher; his stepdaughter, Wendy Fiore Bentley; and five grandchildren.[2][4] His funeral was held at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church with burial at Daytona Memorial Park, complete with full military honors and an honorific flyover during the ceremony.[3]