(CNN) Fidencio Sanchez, Chicago's beloved paleta salesman whose indefatigable work ethic and generous heart charmed residents, died this week. He was 92.

His friend Joel Cervantes Macias, as well as Manny Martinez of Martinez Funeral Home, confirmed his death to CNN. Dulce Sanchez, Fidencio's granddaughter, confirmed his death to the Chicago Tribune

For years, Sanchez shuffled up and down the streets of Chicago's Little Village with a freezer cart full of popsicles. Orphaned at 6 months, he worked to support himself since he was 13, first in Morales, Mexico, and then, since 1990, in Chicago.

Images of the then-89-year-old hunched over his cart, struggling to push it, told a moving story: His wife could no longer work with him, and the daughter who cooked for them every day died in 2016.

He worked out of necessity.

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