Dennis N. Skiotis, 67, teacher at Harvard, Middle East expert

Dennis Nicholas Skiotis, former president of Athens College in Greece and a longtime faculty member at Harvard University, died of complications from pneumonia after a long struggle with leukemia Oct. 19 at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was 67.

Born and reared in Tianjin, China, Mr. Skiotis attended the British kindergarten there and then the Marist Brothers' School, where he mastered the English language and soccer.

When the US Marines took charge of parts of north China at the end of World War II, they were happy to meet the 9-year-old who spoke English and Chinese. They gave him a uniform, which may have sparked his interest in military history, relatives said.

With China convulsed by civil war and revolution in the late 1940s, his family returned to Greece nearly penniless, said Mr. Skiotis's longtime friend and co-worker, John Trumpbour of Brighton.

Mr. Skiotis won a scholarship to Athens College in Greece.

Nearly 50 years later, from 1999 to 2003, he served as president of the institution.

He had first come to the United States as a Rotary Fellow attending Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he starred as captain of the soccer team. He graduated from Bates with a bachelor's degree in English in 1958. In 1963 Mr. Skiotis received a master's degree in international relations from Lehigh University. He also received a doctorate in history and Middle Eastern studies in 1971 from Harvard University.

He served as associate director of Harvard's Center for Middle Eastern Studies from 1976 to 1985 and was director of undergraduate studies at Harvard's history department from 1985 to 1998.

Mr. Skiotis was an assistant professor of history at Harvard during the 1970s. From 1974 through 1976, he served a Senate appointment as head of mission to Cyprus, in which he investigated refugee and other issues surrounding Turkey's invasion of part of the island.

While serving in 2004 as dean of The American College of Greece as well as director of its Institute of Diplomacy and Global Affairs, Mr. Skiotis was a major force in US-Greek intellectual exchange, Trumpbour said.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement yesterday:

''All of us in Congress who knew him and worked with him over the years had immense respect for his vast learning and wisdom on issues in the Middle East. His counsel was especially valuable in helping our Senate Subcommittee on Refugees to deal more effectively with the humanitarian crisis resulting from the conflict between Greece and Turkey over the land of Cyprus.

''In a sense, we were all his students. We have lost a wonderful teacher, and we will miss him very much."

Trumpbour said Mr. Skiotis's personality and linguistic skills in both Turkish and Greek proved invaluable in collecting information from both sides of this strife-torn region.

''He was one of the most charismatic figures you'd ever want to meet," said Trumpbour. ''He'd talk to a lot of people who came from war-torn countries and helped them out with their lives."

Mr. Skiotis's lectures on military history at Harvard College and the Harvard Extension School had a large following, and several times during the 1990s he received the Dean's Letter of Commendation for Excellence in Teaching. He provided commentary on military affairs at various times for the BBC, CNN, PBS, and NPR.

He leaves his wife, Mary (Paouris), and two daughters, Litsa and Anna Maria, all of Boston and Athens; and a sister, Maria of France.

A memorial service was held Saturday at the Taxiarchae Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown. Burial followed in Westview Cemetery in Lexington.