Harvard University has agreed to pay $53 million to settle lawsuits brought by families who accused the institution of mishandling the remains of loved ones donated to its medical school.
The proposed settlement, filed in a Boston court on Monday, follows the conviction of former Harvard Medical School morgue manager Cedric Lodge, who admitted to stealing and selling human remains on the black market.
Lodge, 58, used his position at the medical school’s Anatomical Gifts Program to remove body parts from cadavers and sell them online between 2018 and 2021.
Harvard said in a letter on Monday that the settlement would create multi-million-dollar funds for affected families once the court approves.
Lodge and six other people with no connection to Harvard were indicted in 2025 and pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme.
Prosecutors said Lodge had access to bodies donated for medical research and secretly removed parts before the remains were supposed to be cremated and returned to families or buried at Harvard’s medical cemetery.
According to the indictment, Lodge and his wife sold the stolen body parts to buyers in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
Lodge was sentenced to eight years in prison in December, while his wife received a sentence of one year and one day, according to the US Department of Justice.
The families filed a number of civil lawsuits against Harvard in 2023, alleging that the university had failed to detect or stop Lodge’s conduct over several years.
Although a state court initially dismissed the cases, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court revived them last autumn, paving the way for the settlement negotiations.
On Monday, Harvard and the plaintiffs jointly asked the court to approve the $53 million class-action settlement.
In a letter signed by Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley and Dean for Medical Education Bernard Chang, the university condemned Lodge’s actions.
“Lodge’s criminal acts were morally reprehensible and inconsistent with the standards that Harvard University and HMS expect for the treatment of anatomical donors and their loved ones,” they wrote.
As part of its response, Harvard Medical School will also introduce an annual financial-aid scholarship for medical students beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year, in recognition of people who donate their bodies for medical education and research.
The university said that while Lodge’s sentencing and the proposed settlement bring the legal case to a close, Harvard’s efforts to recover from what it described as a deeply painful incident will continue.
