Eva Ekvall, 28, a former Miss Venezuela whose struggle with breast cancer was closely followed by Venezuelans, died Saturday at a hospital in Houston.
Ms. Ekvall was crowned Miss Venezuela at age 17 in 2000, and the following year she was third runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico. She went on to work as a model, actress, and television news anchor.
She also wrote a book, Fuera de Foco - Out of Focus, about her struggle with cancer. She told the newspaper El Nacional in an interview last year after the book was published that "I needed to send the message of the need for cancer prevention."
