Walter Mercado, the iconic Puerto Rican astrologer, has died. He was 87. Mercado died last week, his niece Dannette Benet Mercado confirms to PEOPLE. The beloved astrologer died at about 9 p.m. at the Auxilio Mutuo hospital in Puerto Rico from kidney failure. Mercado had been in the hospital since October. Mercado, who was born in 1932, has influenced generations of people worldwide, winning over television audiences with his daily video horoscopes – which began airing on El Show de las 12 in 1970. Finding his psychic calling as a child, Mercado previously told PEOPLE en Español that he “would get home from school, sit in a small chair and people would come to meet me. They touched me and kissed my hand. Like I was a pope, and I was a little boy!” Before he became a famous astrologer, he was an actor and dancer, appearing in various films, plays and telenovelas. Mercado’s enigmatic and larger-than-life personality – accented with colourful capes, exotic rings, and positive spiritual messages – made him loved by the masses.