SPOKANE, Wash. - Ruben Trejo, a noted Mexican-American artist who taught at Eastern Washington University, died Sunday. He was 72.

Trejo died from myelodysplastic syndrome in a Spokane hospital, a blood disorder.

Trejo's work was in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, N.M., and the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. He worked in a number of mediums, including sculpture, mixed-media, painting and drawing.

Trejo was born in St. Paul, Minn., in a railroad car. He graduated from the University of Minnesota and joined Eastern Washington University in 1973. He co-founded the university's Chicano Education Program and retired in 2003.