Colin Powell dies at 84 due to COVID-19 complications

The first Black US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has died from complications due to COVID-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.

His leadership in several Republican administrations helped shape American foreign policy in the last few years of the 20th century.

Taking to Facebook, his family wrote, "General Colin L. Powell, former USSecretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from COVID-19."

"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American," they said, as they highlighted that he was fully vaccinated.

Powell's 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.

His national popularity surged after the victory of the US-led coalition during the Gulf War. Also, for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States.

However, this was hampered when he pushed faulty intelligence at the United Nations, as President George W. Bush’s first secretary of state to advocate for the Iraq War. This was something that he considered a blot on his record.