Former Egyptian intelligence head Omar Suleiman died suddenly Thursday morning at age 76.

"Former vice president General Omar Suleiman died in the early hours of Thursday in a hospital in the United States,” the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported in a brief statement.

He was one of the most  trusted senior officials to deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and in the waning days of the ousted leader, he was appointed vice president to Mubarak before the entire 32-year-old regime was torn down.

Suleiman was deeply involved in negotiations between Israel and terrorists in Gaza, and between the rival Fatah faction and Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza in efforts to reconcile the two and create a unity government for the Palestinian Authority.

He was undergoing medical tests in the United States  at the time of his death, according to his aide, Hussein Kamal.

"He was fine. It came suddenly while he was having medical tests in Cleveland,” Kamal told Reuters, without further detail.

No cause of death was given.