Colin Powell, who was born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrants and rose to become the first African American to be U.S. secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has died. He was 84.

Powell died Monday due to complications from COVID-19, his family said on the general’s Facebook page. Powell was fully vaccinated and was being treated at Walter Reed National Medical Center, the family said.

A decorated soldier who started as a second lieutenant, a rank earned as a Reserve Officer Training Corps student at City College of New York, Powell served in Vietnam, West Germany and South Korea before being put in charge of the 1990 Gulf War as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.