Writer E.L. Doctorow passed away Tuesday at a hospital in New York, according to his son, Richard Doctorow. He was 84.
Doctorow died from complications due to lung cancer, according to People Magazine.
The author was best known for his novel Ragtime, a story set in the turn of the 20th century, and that along with many of Doctorow’s other novels were set in and around New York City. He also often wrote about American history, including the Civil War in The March, the post-Civil War era in The Waterworks, the 1930’s in Billy Bathgate, Look Lake and World’s Fair and the Cold War in The Book of Daniel.
Doctorow saw success as a recipient of the National Book Award for fiction in 1986 with World’s Fair and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1989 for Billy Bathgate and again in 2005 for The March.
According to heartlandconnection.com, President Barack Obama praised Doctorow as “one of America’s greatest novelists,” and said, “his books taught me so much.”
Doctorow was an instructor at Yale University Drama School, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College and the University of California at Irvine. He also taught creative writing at New York University. He married Helen Setzer in 1954. The couple had two daughters and a son.
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