Len Brown, left, and Alan Roy, right, volunteers at the fundraiser, battle the heat and smoke as they try to keep up with the demand for food from the grill.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

Tow truck drivers line up for burgers, hot dogs and sodas at yesterday’s fundraiser for the family of a fallen fellow trucker.

Sullivan Tallnadge, 9, plays on the running board of a tow truck owned by his grandfather, Ron Sadlier, at Goddard Memorial Park.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

WARWICK — The job of a tow truck driver is one filled with late nights, irate customers and cars blowing by on dark roads. It’s also one where death is never far from your mind.

“When the white line is here and you’re here and cars are doing 70 mph, you think about that sometimes,” said Wayne VanMarter, of Hollister Auto in Seekonk.

That lingering fear crept closer last month when Daniell F. Steinberg, a 32-year-old tow truck operator, was killed by a 36-ton lumber truck on Oct. 16 after he ran onto Route 4 to pick up an errant tire. The Warwick father of three, who worked for Herb’s Towing Co. and National Auto Specialty, was assisting a motorist on the side of the road near Exit 6 and Route 2 in East Greenwich.

Yesterday, to honor Steinberg, his wife, Angelina, and their daughters Tiffany Ann Marro, 12, Brianna Christine Steinberg, 7, and Alyssia Danielle Steinberg, 2, more than 120 tow truck operators drove their trucks past the site of the accident and then led hundreds of Steinberg’s friends and supporters to Goddard Memorial State Park, in Warwick, to remember and raise money for the family.

Watching the procession from the park entrance with daughters Jeana, 9, and Joslyn, 4, Melanie Galluccio said her brother, who works for Eastside Towing, has told her harrowing stories from his nights on the road. Tow truck operators deal with “irritable people in irritable situations,” she said.

“It’s hard work. It’s dangerous out there,” Galluccio said.

James Robbins, president of the Rhode Island Public Towing Association, who organized the event with Herb’s Towing, said that shared experience has resulted in a brotherhood among drivers. More than 100 operators drove in a memorial procession for Steinberg’s funeral last month, and many participated in a similar procession in Massachusetts two years ago for two drivers who were hit and killed near Route 495.

“Every time we do something like this it brings us closer together,” said Robbins.

The association hoped to raise $60,000 with yesterday’s event, and by the afternoon it had received a number of donations, including a pledge to cover the girls’ dental expenses until they turn 18. Governor Carcieri donated “Beacon Rock,” a limited-edition print from the 2006 Scenes of Rhode Island collection, which is valued at $1,000. Robbins said he had already received a bid for the piece.

The money will go into a trust fund for the three girls, and additional donations can be sent to the Daniell Steinberg Memorial Fund, c/o R.I. Public Towing Association, 1153 Central Ave., Pawtucket, RI 02861.

Through the benefit, Robbins also hopes to get the word out for drivers to give towing professionals some space when they’re working on the side of the road. Occasionally the operator is accompanied by a police escort, which encourages drivers to slow down and be more cautious, but often the tow truck driver is out there alone, and the cars fly by, Robbins said.

“It’s tough out there at night, two, three o’clock in the morning. We jeopardize our guys every day,” he said.

VanMarter said drivers passing by have thrown soft drinks at him while he’s been on the side of the road. Many people have had bad experiences with tow truck drivers, and that feeling stays with them, he said.

“People don’t like to get their cars towed and they take it out on us,” VanMarter said.

Kenny Smith, of Townline Towing and Recovery in North Providence, who has been in the business for 30 years, said increased traffic has made his profession more dangerous.

“It could have been any one of us,” he said.

But despite his perilous job, Steinberg was always ready to help, said Joanna Martin, who owns National Auto Specialty, where Steinberg worked for 10 years.

“You got a flat tire at two o’clock in the morning, Danny was there,” she said.

Angelina said that if someone else had gotten hit instead of her husband, Steinberg would have been in the procession.

“He would have been the one blowing the horn,” she said.

Instead, she stood on a wooden bridge near the water and watched the trucks pass beneath. She said she was overcome with emotion.

“I was feeling a lot of things, mostly just amazed. I was sad that he couldn’t be here to enjoy it,” Steinberg said.