Colin Powell first Black US secretary of state who as part of several Republican administrations played a key role in shaping American foreign policy in the late 1990s and the early years of the 21st century, has died due to Covid-19, his family said on Facebook. He was 84.
Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response, as well as Parkinson's, Peggy Cifrino, Powell's longtime chief of staff, confirmed to CNN. He was fully vaccinated against Covid-19, but those who are immunocompromised are at greater risk from the virus.
Powell was a distinguished and trailblazing professional soldier whose 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 Bush.
His national popularity soared in the aftermath of the US-led coalition victory during the Gulf War, and for a time in the mid-90s, he was considered a leading contender to become the first Black President of the United States.
But his reputation was forever stained when, as George W. Bush's first secretary of state, he pushed faulty intelligence before the United Nations to advocate for the Iraq War, which he later himself termed a "blot" on his record.
Bush said in a statement on Monday that Powell was "a great public servant" who was "such a favourite 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."
Later in his public life, Powell was disappointed with the Republic Party’s extreme rightward shift and he used his political stand to help elect Democrats to the White House, most notably Barack Obama, the first Black president whom Powell endorsed in the final weeks of the 2008 campaign.
The announcement was seen as a significant boost for Obama's candidacy due to Powell's widespread popular appeal and stature as one of the prominent Black Americans in public life.
Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, whom he married in 1962, as well as three children.
