MYSTERY WIRE — Gen. Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. Secretary of State has died from complications from COVID-19, according to a post from his family on his Facebook page. Powell was 84.

“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19,” the Powell family wrote.

Powell, a retired four-star general and Republican, was chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War. He later served as the 65th Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush.

  • US President George W Bush (fore, center) meets with his new cabinet in the White House’s Cabinet Room, Washington DC, January 31, 2001. Pictured with him are Secretary of State Colin Powell (fore left) and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (1932 – 2021) (right). (Photo by Mark Wilson/Pool via CNP/Getty Images)
  • Portrait of American military commander and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (from 1989 – 1993), General Colin Powell as he leans, arms crossed, on the back of a chair in an office in the Pentagon, Washington DC, 1993. (Photo by Bachrach/Getty Images)
  • CRAWFORD, TEXAS – AUGUST 6: U.S. President George W. Bush (C) meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell (R) and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage at his ranch August 6 , 2003 in Crawford, Texas. (Photo by Susan Sterner/The White House via Getty Images)
  • National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell watch as President George W. Bush delivers a speech. (Photo by �� Brooks Kraft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
  • American First Lady Barbara Bush (1925 – 2018) fastens the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff US Army General Colin Powell, as US President George HW Bush (1924 – 2018), watches during a ceremony in the White House’s East Room, Washington DC, July 3, 1991. (Photo by Howard L. Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
  • (Original Caption) Secretary of State Colin Powell listens as President Bush speaks on trade promotion authority at the Department of State. (Photo by �� Brooks Kraft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)