A longtime Ohio State University doctor sexually abused at least 177 students over the course of two decades, according to a year-long independent investigation released Friday.

Dr. Richard Strauss served as a clinical and medical faculty member at the school from 1978 to 1998, which included a stint as the athletics team physician from 1981 to 1995. Strauss died in 2005.

Independent investigators at the law firm Perkins Coie concluded university personnel were aware of complaints and concerns about Strauss conduct as early as 1979, yet failed to investigate or take action at the time. OSU conducted a very limited investigation of Strauss following a student complaint in 1996, which resulted in him being removed from athletics and student health, but he nevertheless remained a tenured faculty member.

Strauss acts of abuse ranged from the overt such as fondling to the point of erection and ejaculation to more subtle acts of abuse that were masked with a pretextual medical purpose, the report found.

In at least one instance, Strauss allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old wrestler and other male students at a Catholic high school in Columbus, where he claimed to be conducting a body fat testing study to determine how wrestlers bodies changed throughout the season. Many of the tests required the students be nude.

One former student told investigators Strauss fondled his genitals as part of the test and may have digitally penetrated his rectum. He said Strauss would spend two to three hours at a time watching male students in the high school locker room.