NOEL KING, HOST:
Celebrity astrologer and TV personality Walter Mercado has died.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WALTER MERCADO: (Foreign language spoken).
KING: He endeared himself to millions of Hispanic viewers, delivering his predictions with flair. Here's Luis Trelles. He's a producer with NPR's Radio Ambulante.
LUIS TRELLES, BYLINE: He was the guy people looked to in the TV and in syndicated horoscopes to know what was coming and the best way to figure out love and family problems and all that sort of stuff.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Mercado was known for advising people to look for the sun, not the clouds.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MERCADO: For me, it's quite important, my inner being, my - in my work, if I can give a person a little encouragement, a little warm hand in a moment that they really need me.
GREENE: That was Mercado in a 1987 interview. According to CNN, his career in astrology actually began on a whim when someone asked him to fill in for a Telemundo program. That eventually turned into regular segments, including on the Spanish news program "Primer Impacto."
KING: Mercado died on Saturday in Puerto Rico. He was 87 years old. And we will end this remembrance with a nod to how he ended his segments. Here's Trelles to explain.
TRELLES: I think any piece about Walter Mercado would not be complete without saying that he used to sign off with words that I definitely remember and that most people in my family definitely remember because they all used to watch him on the TV.
GREENE: So we'll let Mercado take it from here.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MERCADO: (Foreign language spoken).
GREENE: Walter Mercado wishing that you always receive lots of peace, but overall lots and lots of love. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.