WASHINGTON — General Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state and a former chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, died Monday from complications of COVID-19. He was 84.
His family announced his death in a Facebook posting, saying, “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”
The family said Powell was fully vaccinated against the virus. They thanked the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center outside Washington “for their caring treatment” during his final days.
Powell had multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer that suppresses the body’s immune response, U.S. news outlets reported. Even if fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, immunocompromised people are at greater risk.
Powell was the country’s top diplomat from 2001 to 2005 during the first term of Republican President George W. Bush’s administration.
In a tribute, Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush were “deeply saddened” by Powell’s death.
“He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam,” Bush said. “Many presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and experience. He was such a favorite of presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad.
”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Twitter, “It will be impossible to replace Gen. Colin Powell. He was a tremendous personal friend and mentor to me, and there’s a hole in my heart right now as I think about his loss.”
Powell, a four-star Army general and 35-year veteran, was the Pentagon’s military leader, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993 under Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, and for months under his successor, Democratic President Bill Clinton. Prior to that, he was the U.S. national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989.
Powell was viewed in U.S. political circles as a moderate Republican and pragmatist. He considered running for president in 1996 against Clinton but decided not to, as his wife, Alma, voiced fears for his safety.
In 2008, he broke ranks with the Republican Party and endorsed the presidential candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama, who went on to become the first African American elected to the White House.
