The state’s legal community lost a well-respected member this week when a lawyer in a small Providence firm died of a heart attack Sunday night.

Joseph P. Ferrucci, 45, a partner in Ferrucci Russo P.C., was stricken while on his way to dinner in East Greenwich, where he lived with his wife, Leslie, and their three children.

Ferrucci specialized in cases involving insolvent businesses. His death struck hard at the circle of professionals who practice in an area of law where a business’ failing finances leave just about everyone involved feeling shortchanged.

Perhaps fewer than a dozen lawyers handle the majority of federal business bankruptcies and receiverships filed in Rhode Island annually.

“He was eager to make his mark and he succeeded at that,” said Joseph M. DiOrio, a former colleague.

A graduate of the University of Rhode Island and Suffolk University, Ferrucci started his law career at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder in Providence, where he was assigned to insolvency matters.

He fell under the tutelage of the firm’s managing partner, Michael A. Silverstein, who has since become an associate justice on the state Superior Court presiding over cases involving business law.

“He was just a breath of fresh air,” Silverstein recalled. “Ultimately, you became very close to Joe.”

Ferrucci brought an “additional dimension” to legal matters, Silverstein said.

“What it was, was an extreme practicality,” he said.

Silverstein’s assessment remained unchanged by Ferrucci’s numerous appearances in his courtroom.

The state court judge said he had “no reservations” choosing Ferrucci to take over complex, multimillion-dollar business cases “and just telling him to get this done.”

Ferrucci joined with Mark Russo in 2001 to start Ferrucci Russo.

“It was a very good match,” Russo said. “All his strengths were my weaknesses and vice versa.”

Among the noteworthy cases Ferrucci took on were; the bankruptcy of the Bess Eaton coffee chain; Mixitforme.com, an online retailer whose collapse led to the federal convictions of company executives; and oversight of Mount St. Francis Health Center –– a nursing home once operated by convicted embezzler Antonio L. Giordano.

“With his well-known and contagious good humor, and always respectful and conciliatory manner, he would take the edge off and diffuse even the most strained and acrimonious situations,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur N. Votolato wrote in an e-mail to The Journal. “Joe correctly believed that when people are calm, they make the best judgment calls.”

The funeral is Saturday in St. Gregory the Great Church in Warwick.

pgrimald@projo.com