Colin Powell dead at 84 due to complications from COVID-19: report

On Monday, CNN reported that Colin Powell, the first Black Secretary of State, has died at 84 due to complications from COVID-19.

"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," confirmed Powell's family in a Facebook post. "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American."

According to his family, Powell was fully vaccinated.

"Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose career took him from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush," noted Devan Cole for CNN. "His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States."