WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWNY) – Colin Powell, the first Black secretary of state and a pioneering foreign policy leader, has died at age 84.
His family reported his death on Facebook.
Despite being fully vaccinated, Powell died Monday at Walter Reed National Medical Center due to complications from COVID-19, his family said.
“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said.
Powell faced other health conditions including Parkinson’s Disease, CBS News reported Monday morning.
Powell became the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush’s administration and the first Black national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan’s administration.
His popularity soared in the aftermath of the 1990s Persian Gulf War, and he was talked about as a possible presidential contender, though he never ran.
As President George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence at the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, something that he considered a blot on his record.
Later in life, he became disillusioned with the Republican Party and began endorsing Democrats, including President Barack Obama.
Powell was born April 5, 1937, in Harlem, N.Y., to parents who were Jamaican immigrants.
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