Colin Powell, first Black secretary of state, dies at 84 from COVID-19 amid cancer battle
CBSN
Washington — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell died Monday morning due to complications from COVID-19, his family announced. He was 84.
Powell, the first Black secretary of state and the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was fully vaccinated, his family said in a post on his Facebook page. But Powell had battled various other health ailments, and had been treated for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that affects white blood cells and can severely compromise the immune system. His wife, Alma, also had a breakthrough case of COVID-19, but responded to treatment.
"We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment," the Powell family wrote. "We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American."