CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s state news agency says former spy chief and vice president Omar Suleiman has died in the United States.

The Middle East News Agency said on Thursday in a brief report that Suleiman died in a U.S. hospital early that morning. It didn’t give further details.

Suleiman, 75, was ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s most trusted deputy.

After rising through the ranks of the military, he served as Egypt’s intelligence chief for nearly two decades. For most of that time he played a behind-the-scenes role as the top official in charge of some of the most important issues facing the Egyptian state.