Colin Powell, former secretary of state, dies

Published 9:53 am Monday, October 18, 2021

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Colin Powell, 84, the first Black U.S. secretary of state and its first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has died.

His family said this morning Powell died from complications of COVID-19. Family said he was fully vaccinated. He had been treated at Walter Reed National Medical Center.

Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells. It is unclear what part that disease played in his death. The family did not say if he had received a COVID booster shot.

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Powell served as secretary of state until President George W. Bush.