Robert Charles remembers Colin Powell: He personified the best of all of us

Former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell Robert Charles remembered his former colleague Monday as a "great man" who didn't take things personally and was a "friend to all."

"This is a man who in many ways personified the best of all of us… He was decent and honest with people. Integrity was always at the forefront. He was a self-critic as easily as he was anything else. He never took things personally. I can't tell you how many times something bad would cross his desk, and he'd say, 'Well, it's just someone having a bad day. So on we go with our job.'"

Charles, who served under Powell from 2003-2005 as assistant secretary of state at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, said he was not aware of Powell's COVID-19 diagnosis.

"I'm sort of at a loss, really, for words," he said. "This is a guy who truly walked the walk. He lived the words that he spoke. He was everything that you would have hoped in -- if he was a relative, you would have loved to have him as a relative. As a boss, he was ever a listener but as honest as the day is long, always optimistic."