Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, the first Black Secretary of State, died Monday due to complications from Covid-19, his family said in a statement on Facebook.
Powell, 84, was fully vaccinated from Covid-19, his family said. He received treatment at Walter Reed National Medical Center.
“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated,” the family said in the statement. “We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”
Powell was the first U.S. Black secretary of state when he was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001.
Powell served two tours in Vietnam in the Army. He was President Ronald Reagan’s deputy national security adviser, and then national security adviser. He was promoted to the rank of general in 1989 and chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush.
Powell oversaw 28 crises as the Joint Chiefs chair, according to the State Department. They included Operation Desert Storm in 1991 ― the military response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. It was the first U.S. major foreign crisis since the Cold War.
