By Pleshae McPhee, Copyeditor
Revered as an embodiment of leadership and an emblem of service, General Colin L. Powell died on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, at age 84. Powell was a national pioneer, serving as the United States’ first Black national security adviser, a diplomat, a soldier, a secretary of state, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.
According to a Facebook post by his family, Powell experienced complications with COVID-19 and a compromised immune system due to multiple myeloma, a cancer in which he had been undergoing treatment for.
“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,” they said. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather, and a great American.”
Powell had also received treatment in his earlier years for Parkinson’s disease and had been undergoing treatment at the Reed National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
While he was branded with the highest honor for his service as a U.S. military officer, Powell’s story is rooted in humble beginnings.
Born to two Jamaican immigrant parents in Harlem, New York, Powell worked his way through high school, and eventually enlisted in the army. After 35 years of service in the army, he became the first Black national security adviser during the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and in 1989 was appointed the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by George H. W. Bush.
As chairman, Powell orchestrated tactics for the 1989 Panama invasion and 1991 Persian Gulf war. Powell refined America’s military operations with the Powell Doctrine, which emphasizes identifying clear objectives, gaining public support, and using decisive force to defeat the enemy.
Powell leaves with him a legacy of leadership that has amassed him numerous accolades and accomplishments. According to an official statement by former U.S. president, George W. Bush, Powell’s leadership garnered him favor with past U.S. presidents.
“He 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,” said Bush.
Saint Leo University political science professor Dr. Marco Rimanelli, met Powell on one of the European tours that he coordinated for students throughout the year, where they visited places like Great Britain, Italy and Belgium. On a tour to France in 2002, Rimanelli said that he had planned a surprise boat ride, but the bigger surprise was meeting Powell.
“Me and the students were walking to the Louvre Museum, because I was planning a late-night boat ride for a tour of Paris. Just before we crossed the street, we were in front of the Intercontinental Hotel and saw a limousine, the American Star,” said Rimanelli. “It circled around and stopped in front of the hotel. The students asked to wait, and suddenly, there were people dressed in civilian and I noticed the limo had the American flag. The students were guessing that the president was in there, but I told them that the president stays at the House of the American Ambassador.”
“The door opens and out of the limo comes Colin Powell! The students were screaming ‘It’s Colin Powell! It’s Colin Powell! USA! USA! USA!” Mr. Powell walked across the street to take photos and ask them about the trip. The students told him that they were from Saint Leo and Saint Leo was a military school. He said that he knew of Saint Leo. The students were excited and yelled that I should’ve told them to bring their cameras!” said Rimanelli.
Rimanelli also said that he met Powell at the State Department in Summer 2001.
“I ran into him exiting a door and I was drinking a carton of orange juice as my only work-lunch while running to the building exit,” said Rimanelli.
When asked about his character, Rimanelli described Powell as good-natured and personable.
“He was very personable. He was very humble. He was very human. He was for the people,” said Rimanelli.
Powell is remembered as a great American, and a great public servant. He was a man of great counsel, of great service, and was dedicated to his country and those who serve it.
“I have learned from most of the people I’ve met, and I have tried to inspire the people I have led,” Powell wrote. “Life and leadership can’t be about me. They have to be about us.”
