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Asper was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba , the son of musicians who had emigrated from Ukraine. In 1957 he received his Bachelor of law degree from the University of Manitoba, and was called to the bar shortly thereafter. He founded the firm of Asper, Freedman & Co. in 1959. In 1970 he wrote The Benson Iceberg: A critical analysis of the White Paper on Tax Reform in Canada.

Also in 1970, Asper was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party (defeating university professor John Nesbitt). Asper represented a right-libertarian strain within the party. In the Manitoba election of 1973, he promoted a laissez-faire economy, and advocated the elimination of the welfare state. He also advocated the public financing of election campaigns, to ensure that politics would not be dominated entirely by monied interests. His Liberals won only five seats, and Asper was elected in Wolseley by only four votes. He resigned as party leader and MLA in 1975, though he continued to support the Manitoba Liberal Party in later years.

His media empireFor alternative meanings, see Empire (disambiguation An empire (also known technically, abstractly or disparagingly as imperium comprises a set of regions locally ruled by governors, viceroys or client kings in the name of an emperor. By extension, one ca started with the WinnipegWinnipeg (49° 53′ N, 97° 09′ W, CST) is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of Manitoba. The city is located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, and is protected from flooding by the Red River Floodway. It is the provi television stationA television station is a type of radio station that broadcasts both audio and video to television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded radio signals over the air, called terrestrial CKNDCKND is a television station which broadcasts out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is part of the Global Television Network. The station's history can be traced back to 1959, where its predecessor, KCND, went on the air in Pembina, North Dakota. In the early 197 in 1975. CanWest grew to encompass the Global Television NetworkThe Global Television Network (more commonly called Global is a major English-language television network in Canada. It first signed on in 1974 as an Ontario-only independent channel, but was soon purchased by Izzy Asper, a Manitoba politician-turned-broa, the daily newspaper National PostThe National Post is a large Canadian English language national newspaper based in Toronto. The Post was founded in 1998 by Conrad Black to combat what he saw as an over- liberalizing of editorial policy in Canadian newspapers. From the beginning the Post and over 60 other Canadian newspapers.

Asper was noted for his fierce loyalty to Manitoba, refusing enticements to move east to Toronto. The faculty of management at the University of Manitoba renamed itself the Asper School of Business in 2000. He was also a noted philanthropist, making major donations to the arts and education; in 2001 he donated $5 million (Can) to the St. Boniface Hospital & Research Foundation in Winnipeg. Asper became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1995.

He was a prominent member of Canada's Jewish community, and was well-known for his strong faith and support for Israel. While a Liberal in domestic Canadian politics his views in regards to Zionism coincided with the right wing Likud - he was an admirer of Vladimir Jabotinsky.

Asper would occasionally pen editorials defending the nation in his various papers and was accused by a number of media observers of censoring opinions critical of Zionism or which he deemed sympathetic to the Palestinians. He was also a critic of public broadcasting media, especially the CBC both for competing with the private sector as well as alleging that CBC News had a pro-Palestinian bias. Critics have accused Asper of simply attempting to eliminate competition to his business and political opinions.

Asper was also a close friend of many of Canada's prominent political and business elite, including Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. He had three children, David , Leonard and Gail, all of whom became lawyers.