Colin Powell, 84, dies due to complications from COVID

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell died Monday morning due to complications from COVID. 

He was 84 years old.

His family released a statement on Facebook saying: ‘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. 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 is survived by his wife, Alma Powell, and three children. 

The four star general was the first black secretary of State. 

Powell’s family announced on Facebook Monday morning the retired four star general’s death. They said he was fully vaccinated against coronavirus

Powell served as secretary of State under President George W. Bush from 2001-2005 

He served under several Republican administrations – including for Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

Also, from 1991-1993 he served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Bill Clinton after being appointed to the post halfway through Bush Sr’s tenure.

To this day, Powell is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. 

Despite being a lifelong Republican, Powell said in June 2020 that he was planning to vote for Joe Biden because Trump ‘drifted away’ from the Constitution and was turned off by the president’s inclination to insult ‘anybody who dares to speak against him’. 

Trump responded to the criticism in a tweet at the time saying: ‘Powell, a real stiff who was very responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East Wars, just announced he will be voting for another stiff, Sleepy Joe Biden.’

Powell praised other retired generals who denounced the then-president – specifically in response to the protests that precipitated after the death of George Floyd.

‘I think what we’re seeing now with the most massive protest movement I have ever seen in my life, I think it suggests that the country is getting wise to this and we’re not going to put up with it anymore,’ Powell told CNN at the time.

Powell was born to Jamaican immigrants in New York City and raised in the South Bronx, according to his biography.

He first joined the military as part of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) during college and went on to serve as an Army lieutenant after graduation.