Edgar A. Hahn (1882–1970) graduated from Western Reserve University (LL.B., 1903) and did postgraduate work at Columbia University. His father, Aaron Hahn, a native of Czechoslovakia who earned a doctoral degree from the University of Leipzig, had arrived in Cleveland in 1874 to assume leadership of the Tifereth Israel congregation. A liberal idealist, Dr. Hahn resigned his rabbinical post 18 years later to enter the field of law, and in 1904 his son Edgar joined the practice.

In 1912, Edgar Hahn was appointed to Mayor Newton D. Baker’s commission responsible for forming the city’s home-rule charter; it would become a national model. In 1920, he joined the law firm of Mooney, Hahn, Loeser & Keough as senior partner. Hahn devoted much time to Cleveland’s cultural life, helping to found the Northern Ohio Opera Association (which prompted the Metropolitan Opera to add a stop in Cleveland to its annual spring tour). As vice chairman of the Musical Arts Association he was instrumental in establishing the Cleveland Orchestra’s tradition of summer pop concerts. He was a trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art, a director of National City Bank for 43 years, and in 1961 became a life trustee of the Temple-Tifereth Israel, where his father had served in the late 19th century.