Fifty years after burying his brother and best friend, John Santi spent almost every fortnight by his grave site.

So when he saw his brother’s name in a newspaper along with 143 others calling for family members to contact the coroner, it marked the beginning of 16 months of hell culminating in a formal apology from the Tasmanian government.

Tony Santi had died in a motorcycle crash when he was 19 in 1976.

A 13-year-old John remembered his brother’s body being taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital before his family received the remains to be buried.

But a coronial investigation in September found the University of Tasmania’s RA Rodda Museum secretly kept 177 human autopsy samples for teaching and research purposes between 1966 and 1991.

Tony was one of them.

‘Stolen his brain’

The remains were collected without the knowledge or approval of families or loved ones.

“We buried him 50 years ago, only to find out 50 years later that these people had stolen his brain,” John said.

“I went to my brother’s grave site every second week and then to realise he wasn’t even all there.”

The Tasmanian government will on Tuesday formally apologise for the past practice of retaining body parts after autopsies without the knowledge or consent of family members.

John recalled the confusion among him and his brothers after seeing Tony’s name in the paper in 2025.

A coroner told him it was just a minute piece of brain that had been kept.

“When I met the funeral people at the cemetery to rebury that piece of brain, they passed it to me in a shoe box,” John said.

“I opened up the shoe box and it was his whole brain.

“To have to rebury a loved one twice in 50 years is inconceivable.”

A coronial probe was launched in 2016 after the museum’s curator raised concerns three specimens had been kept without the consent of the coroner or families involved.

Now-deceased forensic pathologist Royal Cummings had provided the large majority of the specimens to the museum, coroner Simon Cooper said in his September report.

The remains in question were removed from public display in 2018, before the coroner’s office spent years reconciling records to determine their origin.

Independent MP Meg Webb said the formal apology was an important step in responsibility and accountability, but it won’t undo the harm caused, answer all unresolved questions, or rebuild broken trust.

“There may need to be further steps taken to consider appropriate redress for affected families for the unspeakable treatment of their loved ones,” she said.

John hopes for accountability for the departments involved, justice for those who stole people’s organs and compensation for the trauma they’ve suffered.

“It has taken so long, and it’s been so traumatic for the families, and still is, and I don’t think the apology is going to make much difference to anybody,” he said.

The University of Tasmania has previously apologised and met with families.