WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Colin Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state, a top military officer and a national security adviser, died yesterday at age 84 due to complications from COVID-19. He was fully vaccinated, his family said.

Powell had multiple myeloma, a blood cancer which was in remission, and earlystage Parkinson’s disease, said a close friend who asked not to be named. The blood cancer reduces the body’s ability to fight infection and puts people at higher risk for a severe case of the virus.

Powell served three Republican presidents in senior posts and ascended to leadership of the U.S. military as it was regaining its vigor after the trauma of the war in Vietnam, where he served two tours as an Army officer.

“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” his family said, thanking the staff of the military hospital near Washington who treated Powell but providing few details about his illness.

He was the top U.S. military officer when American-led forces drove Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991 and the chief U.S. diplomat in 2003 when Washington relied on erroneous intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify its invasion of Iraq.

The son of Jamaican immigrants who rose to the top of the national security establishment, Powell himself acknowledged that his presentation of that spurious U.S. intelligence would stain his record.

In a brief statement on Facebook, the Powell family said he had died on Monday morning from COVID-19, had been fully vaccinated against the disease and thanked the medical staff at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who treated him.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said hospitalization and death are “extremely rare” among the fully vaccinated and said Powell’s death underscored that underlying health issues and other diseases can lead to greater risk from the virus.

“He had two very serious underlying conditions. And unfortunately, (vaccination) didn’t work. God love him,” President Joe Biden told reporters at a White House event on education. He again implored all Americans to get vaccinated.

Biden earlier praised Powell in a statement.

“Colin embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat,” Biden, describing Powell as a “patriot of unmatched honor and dignity” and a man who “could drive his Corvette Stingray like nobody’s business.”

Former President George W. Bush, a Republican who named Powell as U.S. secretary of state, noted that “many presidents relied on General Powell’s counsel