Former Secretary of State Colin Powell dead at 84 from COVID-19 complications

Former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell has died at age 84 of COVID-19 complications.

Powell was fully vaccinated and being cared for at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., at the time of his death on Monday morning. After decades of military experience, including tours in Vietnam, Powell served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005 and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993.

According to an announcement on his Facebook page, "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 announcement added.

“The world lost one of the greatest leaders that we have ever witnessed,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on CNN. “I lost a tremendous personal friend and mentor. He has been my mentor for a number of years. He always made time for me and I could always go to him with tough issues. He always had great counsel. We will certainly miss him. I feel as if I have a hole in my heart just learning of this recently."

Powell was born in April 1937 and grew up in South Bronx, New York. He joined the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps while at City College of New York.