“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather, and a great American,” they said, noting he was fully vaccinated.

Born to Jamaican immigrant parents in New York, Powell climbed up the ladder to become the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the youngest and first African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush.

Bush said in a statement per CNN Monday that Powell was “a great public servant” who was “such a favorite of Presidents that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom — twice. He was highly respected at home and abroad. And most important, Colin was a family man and a friend.”

Powell is survived by his wife, Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell, and his three children Linda, Michael, and Annemarie.