Ash married Lila Marie Hornbek on November 13, 1943 and had three sons and two daughters, (Charles, James, Robert, Loretta and Marilyn).

In 1953, Ash and his partner, Tex Thornton, bought Litton Industries, a small West Coast producer of microwave tubes.

By the time Ash became president of the company in 1961, Litton had completed 25 mergers and operated 48 plants in nine countries in an aggressive acquisition plan, with sales of $245 million.

In a memo that Ash sent to Nixon in 1969, he reported finding "virtual unanimity that organizational improvement of the Executive Office of the President is needed."

According to a report by the U.S. EPA, during meetings in spring 1970, Ash at first expressed a preference for a single department to oversee both environmental and natural resource management, but by April he had changed his mind.

That 550 acres (2.2 km2) property's main house was built in 1837 with major additions added in 1911, and has been the weekend retreat for senators, congressmen, and diplomats, and Presidents Lyndon Baines Johnson and John F. Kennedy visited Huntlands on numerous occasions.