Samuel Case, FISM News
Colin Powell, Secretary of State under George W. Bush, and the first black man to hold the position, died on Monday at the age of 84.
Powell died of complications from COVID-19, even after being fully vaccinated, his family said. The late Powell was also battling multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that impaired his immune system.
The Powell family said in statement on Facebook:
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.
The four-star general led a long career under several Republican presidents, first serving as U.S. National Security Adviser under President Ronald Raegan from 1987 to 1989. He was then named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War. George W. Bush later tapped him to serve as his Secretary of State in 2001. The younger Bush called Powell ‘one of the great public servants of our time.’
Former President Bush released a statement saying Powell “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. Laura and I send Alma and their children our sincere condolences as they remember the life of a great man.”
Powell broke with his Republican record in 2008 to endorse Barack Obama, and then again in 2012. The general went on to endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then Joe Biden in 2020. Powell announced he was officially leaving the Republican party after the January 6th Capitol Hill riot.