Colin Powell, the trailblazing military commander and first Black secretary of state whose career was defined in part by America’s two wars with Iraq, died of COVID-19-related complications. Powell reportedly had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that makes it difficult to fight infections.

Powell, 84, was born in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, served four U.S. presidents and rose to become the first African American and the youngest chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. He died at Walter Reed National Medical Center. His family said he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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