Judge Lohn grew up on Cleveland's West Side, the son of a Cleveland Police Officer. He graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1975. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979 with a degree in business administration (Go Irish!). He received his law degree in 1983 from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He is a 1990 graduate of the FBI National Academy for Judges and Prosecutors.

Before he became a judge he was a prosecutor for twenty years.

Judge Lohn conducted one of Ohio's first jury trials of a juvenile under the state's Serious Youthful Offender statute. He created Camp Integrity—an evening reporting program for unruly and delinquent teenagers. He began the Juvenile Drug Court and ID-21 for drug and alcohol offenders. He was the first judge to require mental health screenings at the Medina County Juvenile Detention Center.

As probate judge he instituted the Volunteer Guardianship Program for Medina County's growing population of destitute incompetent adults. With the Medina County Bar Association, he started a program to train lawyers to recognize and prevent the financial exploitation of the elderly.

He is an adjunct instructor of law and criminal procedure at Cuyahoga Community College. Three of his legal decisions are published in the Ohio State Bar Reports, which is remarkable for a trial judge in his first term.

Judge Lohn has been married to his wife Linda since 1983. They attend Holy Martyrs Church in Weymouth. They live in Medina and they have two adult sons.