E.L. Doctorow, James Rothenberg, Theodore Bikel: Obits This Week

This week’s notable deaths included the critically acclaimed author of “Ragtime,” the investment executive who oversaw what once was the world’s largest stock fund, and a U.S. actor who starred on stage in “Fiddler on the Roof” and earned an Oscar nomination for work in film. Below are summaries of these and other obituaries.

E. L. Doctorow, 84. Writer who experimented with narrative storytelling techniques to illuminate the American experience in novels such as “Ragtime,” in 1975, and “Billy Bathgate,” in