Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies from COVID complications

Colin Powell, who was America‘s first Black Secretary of State and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died on Monday after suffering from COVID-19 complications, his family confimed on Facebook. He was 84. 

“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,” the family said in a post. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”

In 1989 Powell became the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In that role he oversaw the U.S. invasion of Panama and later the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991.

Former President George W. Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush were “deeply saddened” by Powell’s death.

Powell’s trailblazing career saw him go from combat duty in Vietnam to becoming the first Black national security adviser under Ronald Regan’s presidency. He was then appointed as the youngest and the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George W Bush. 

He was widely tipped for a presidential run after his national popularity soared following the US-led coalition’s victory in the Gulf War.

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Although a presidential bid never materialised, he was sworn-in as Bush’s Secretary of State in 2001, becoming the highest-ranking Black public official in US history. 

Bush said he was “deeply saddened” at the death of Powell, whom he described as “such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend”. 

Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, whom he married in 1962 and has three children with.