Buenos Aires, June 26 (IANS/EFE) Football great Diego Maradona’s father died on Thursday after a prolonged illness, media reported on Friday. He was 87.

“Don” Diego Maradona, also known to his friends as “Don Chitoro,” had been in an induced coma and on a respirator at Buenos Aires’ Los Arcos hospital since early June, Efe news agency reported.

Born in the northern province of Corrientes in 1927, Don Diego drove a ferry in his youth and later worked at a chemicals factory; he was the father of nine children.

Don Diego’s health deteriorated after the death of his wife Dalma Salvadora Franco in November 2011.