Henry Tourner Asher was born in Woodburn, Kentucky in 1892. He moved with his family to Bloomington, Indiana and graduated for Bloomington High School in 1910. Later that year he entered Indiana University. In June of 1914 he received his B.A. degree and a year later he was an instructor at Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri. After one year of teaching, Asher entered the graduate school at the University of Illinois. He studied there until 1916 and then transferred to the University of Minnesota. There he received his Master of Arts degree in 1917. In 1928 he was awarded the L.L.B. degree by the Detroit College of Law.  Asher died March 5, 1963.