Budd died on December 20, 1904, in Phoenix, Arizona and was buried in Ames Municipal Cemetery.

Other positions that were held by Budd were as a temporary president of Iowa State College and a horticulturist at an Experimental Station.

[1] Budd visited England, France, Austria, Russia, and China during the summer of 1882 to discover fruit trees that could grow in Iowa.

His position as secretary was reinstated in 1890 due to his discovery that the apple trees grew better in northern climates such as Minnesota.

[1] Budd wrote articles for the Iowa State Register and co-published two volumes of the American Horticultural Manual.