Obituaries

Obituary: Famous novelist E.L. Doctorow, 84, has died following a battle with lung cancer. His books like Ragtime and Billy Bathgate sold millions of copies.

The author was born Edgar Lawrence Doctorow Jan. 6. 1931, in New York, New York, the setting for many of his works. A veteran, Doctor served in the U.S. Army.

He also taught creative writing at New York University and was an instructor at the Yale University Drama School, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College and the University of California, Irvine.

NYT obit:

The author of a dozen novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama, as well as essays and commentary on literature and politics, Mr. Doctorow was widely lauded for the originality, versatility and audacity of his imagination.


Subtly subversive in his fiction — less so in his left-wing political writing — he consistently upended expectations with a cocktail of fiction and fact, remixed in book after book; with clever and substantive manipulations of popular genres like the Western and the detective story; and with his myriad storytelling strategies. Deploying, in different books, the unreliable narrator, the stream-of-consciousness narrator, the omniscient narrator and multiple narrators, Mr. Doctorow was one of contemporary fiction’s most restless experimenters.

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Songwrier Buddy Buie, 74, died the other day:

Buie "was the force that produced, wrote for, managed, and led the way for us to become The Atlanta Rhythm Section," members of the Southern rock band wrote on their Facebook page. "No Buddy … no ARS. Just last week Buddy shared his enthusiasm, and support, for the band, saying he wanted to come hear the new songs we added to the show. We will miss Buddy’s contributions, musically, professionally, and most of all personally."

Before helping to form the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Buie co-wrote hit songs for Tommy Roe, 1964's "Party Girl," and for the Classics IV, including "Spooky," "Stormy" and "Traces."

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Not always a familiar name, but Alex Rocco was seen in numerous movies, including 1972's The Godfather and television series like the The Facts of Life. He passed away a few days ago, with his daughter announcing the death on Facebook. He was 79 years old:

Alex Rocco was born Alexander Federico Petricone in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He moved to California and started out working as a bartender, and began taking acting classes with such teachers as Leonard Nimoy and noted acting teacher Jeff Corey.

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