Colin Powell, 84, dies due to complications from COVID
Fully-vaccinated former Secretary of State Colin Powell, 84, dies of COVID complications while battling Parksinon’s: George W. Bush leads tributes to foreign policy powerhouse who served four presidents
Colin Powell, the first black secretary of State, died Monday at the age of 84His family announced his passing on Facebook and said it was ‘due to complications from Covid 19’ despite being ‘fully vaccinated’ Powell is also, to this day, the only black man to have served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – appointed by George H. W. Bush Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Powell, and his three children Michael, Linda and Annemarie
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Colin Powell, the first black Secretary of State who helped formulated foreign policy under several presidents, died Monday morning at the age of 84 of complications from COVID.
The Pentagon powerhouse who served as a soldier in Vietnam and went on to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was fully vaccinated when he passed away at Walter Reed Medical Center in Baltimore according to his family.
Retired four-star general Powell, who was also suffering from Parkinson’s, is survived by his wife Alma and three children, and has a celebrated career that saw him rise up the military ranks after growing up in a Jamaican immigrant family in Harlem.
Alma Powell also had a breakthrough case of COVID but responded to treatment, according to reports.
His family confirmed his death in a statement on Facebook. It’s unclear when he was diagnosed with COVID or how long he was hospitalized for, but he had previously been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that impacts the body’s ability to fight infections.
‘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’, his family’s statement said.
‘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.’ He served under several Republican administrations – including for Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
President Bush and former First Lady Laura said on Monday they were ‘deeply saddened’ by the news of Powell’s passing. Under Bush, Powell backed the Iraq War in 2003 and was instrumental in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban after 9/11.
The first black Secretary of State, Colin Powell (left), died Monday at the age of 84 due to complications from COVID-19. He is leaving behind his wife, Alma (right), who also had a breakthrough case of coronavirus
Powell’s family announced his death on Facebook Monday morning. They said he was fully vaccinated against coronavirus
Powell (second right) poses with his wife Alma (right) and three children – Linda, Michael and Annemarie – at the White House after being appointed as National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan in 1987
‘Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Colin Powell’, they said in a joint statement. ‘He was a great public servant, starting with his time as a soldier during Vietnam.
‘Many Presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel and experience. He was National Security Adviser under President Reagan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under my father and President Clinton, and Secretary of State during my administration.
‘He was 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.’
The four star general was the first black secretary of State and to this day is the only black man to ever serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He served under several Republican administrations – including for Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
‘The world lost one of the great leaders we have ever witnessed,’ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said when speaking of Powell’s passing on Monday, ‘and I lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor.’
Austin added that he feels ‘as if I have a hole in my heart.’
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.
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 served as secretary of State under President George W. Bush from 2001-2005
Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. To this day he is the only black man to have ever held that post
Powell speaks with then-President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on December 1, 2010
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.
Politicians and pundits were taken back by the seemingly sudden death.
Stacey Abrams, the first black woman from a major political party to run for governor of Georgia, tweeted: ‘Godspeed to Secretary Colin Powell who led with integrity, admitted fallibility and defended democracy. Deepest condolences to his loved ones and friends.’
Powell is survived by his wife Alma (pictured) and three children – Michael, Linda and Annemarie
Powell started his military tenure in the Vietnam War. This photo from 1986 shows him and wife Alma during a farewell ceremony in Frankfurt when Powell was a Lieutenant General
Powell is sworn in as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (left) in 1989
‘My condolences to the family of Colin Powell,’ the Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader, tweeted.
‘Though we disagreed on many issues, I always respected him and was proud of his achievements,’ the liberal added. ‘When he and I ran into each other and conversed, I always left feeling he was a sincere and committed man to what he believed in.’
Former Bush Jr. official Robert Charles also responded on Fox Monday morning: ‘He was ever a listener but he is honest as the day is long. This is a man who was his own man and a great leader.’
‘We won’t see the likes of Colin Powell again for a long time,’ he added.
Christine Todd Whitman, who served alongside Powell as a Cabinet secretary in the George W. Bush administration, tweeted: ‘I’m heartbroken. #ColinPowell was a wonderful person, public servant and friend.’
‘We did so much together in our various roles that it’s hard to imagine not seeing him again,’ said Whitman, a former governor of New Jersey.
‘My prayers go out to Alma, his family, and to all whose lives he touched,’ she added.
‘Rest In Peace, friend.’
‘This is hitting me hard,’ wrote Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Jaime Harrison.
The former candidate for a Senate seat in South Carolina added: ‘Colin Powell was a statesman who put his country & family above all else.’
‘As a young Black man, he inspired me & showed that there are no limits to what we can be or achieve,’ Harrison tweeted. ‘Sending my prayers to his family.’
