Some sad news to report out of the Land of Enchantment: The former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Gene Franchini died Wednesday afternoon while addressing first-year law students at the University of New Mexico. Click here for the AP story.

According to the AP, a television station in New Mexico reported that Franchini was giving his annual speech on ethics and the role of a judge Wednesday evening when he collapsed.

Faculty members said Franchini apparently suffered a heart attack. Students tried to perform CPR until emergency crews arrived. Paramedics also tried to revive Franchini, but were unsuccessful. The audience included more than 100 law students, faculty, and his wife.

Franchini, who served on the New Mexico Supreme Court from 1990 to 2002, was remembered as a prominent figure in New Mexico’s law community, a big supporter of the law school, and a man who made a huge impact on students.

“We were all just floored, just shocked, to think that Gene is no longer with us, because he’s meant so much, not just to the law school, but really to the entire profession,” said retired UNM law professor Michael Browde.

Franchini graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1957 and earned his law degree from Georgetown University and began practicing law in New Mexico in 1960. Click here for an interview with Franchini from 2003 with the State Bar of New Mexico.