Donald P. Warwick, a senior lecturer on sociology, a lecturer on education at the Graduate School of Education, and an Institute Fellow of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), died Dec. 6 at his home in Arlington. He was 63.

Born in Rogers City, Mich., Warwick obtained a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan in 1963. For the past 21 years, he combined teaching responsibilities in the Department of Sociology and the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, and frequent consultations with ministries of education in developing countries. He taught many courses, such as Birth Control in Developing Countries and Politics and Society in Latin America. Warwick authored 12 books and more than 100 articles in professional journals.

After two years working in Peru and a brief stint coordinating a study for the U.S. State Department, Warwick began his work at Harvard when he directed the Comparative International Studies Program between 1967 and 1971. During this period he was also a lecturer on social relations in the Department of Social Relations (now Sociology) as well as a faculty member of the Kennedy School of Government and a research associate at the Center for International Affairs.

After five years at York University in Toronto, including two as chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, he joined HIID as an Institute Fellow in 1976. During this time he worked professionally in 30 countries, and in 1985 was a Visiting Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. From early on in his career, Warwick always sought ways to use his professional knowledge and skills in the service of people in developing countries. Professor Warwick's colleagues and students recall his profound respect for other cultures and traditions. According to Nancy Barra of Chile, president of the Intercultural Center for Research in Education located in Arlington, Mass., "He had an amazing capacity to select just the right anecdote to illustrate a point. He really understood other people."

A demanding teacher, he spent long hours helping students develop their own ideas. His colleagues remember him as always willing to help. Noel McGinn, professor of education at the Graduate School of Education and an Institute Fellow Emeritus at HIID, said "Don's way of doing things set higher standards for those who worked around him; he brought out the best in us." Large of stature, he was noted for his gentle and soft-spoken manner. As HIID director Jeffrey D. Sachs indicated, "Don was an invaluable part of the Institute for the last 20 years and will be greatly missed."

He leaves his wife, Ellen Donohue; a son, Christopher of Arlington; daughters Elizabeth of Montreal and Margaret of Cambridge; three brothers, Thomas of Victorville, Calif., and Howard and Richard of Los Angeles; and one grandson, Nicholas.