Harvard settles for $53 million over stolen donated remains

Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to settle class action lawsuits brought by families whose loved ones' donated remains were stolen and sold on the black market by the former manager of its medical school's morgue. A state court judge in Boston on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, preliminarily approved the settlement, which resolves litigation stemming from a scandal that came to light in 2023.

The settlement addresses lawsuits filed after the arrest of Cedric Lodge, who had managed Harvard Medical School's morgue for nearly three decades. Prosecutors said that between 2018 and 2023, Lodge stole parts from cadavers, including heads, faces, brains, skin, and hands, transporting them from the Boston morgue to his home in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold them. Lodge pleaded guilty last year to interstate transport of stolen human remains and was sentenced in December to eight years in prison. His wife, Denise Lodge, was also sentenced to more than a year in prison for her role in assisting him.

The remains in question were donated to Harvard through its Anatomical Gift Program for medical research and education. Dozens of relatives filed civil lawsuits...