Beloved husband of Glynnie Franchini. Son of Mario & Lena Franchini. Father of Joseph "Jamie" Elias, Pamela Trent, Nancy Franchini, Gina Franchini and Lori Franchini Basham (deceased). Gene spent 32 yrs. as a trial lawyer, 6 yrs. as a District Judge and 12 yrs. on the NM Supreme Court. He was presiding judge of the 2nd Judicial District 1978-1979 and Chief Justice 1998-1998, While serving as Chief Justice of the NM Supreme Court, he was elected by the National Conference of Chief Justices as 2nd Vice-President of their Board of Directors. During his career, he served as Chairman of the Personnel Board for the Labor Relations Board and Interim Board of Ethics of the City of Albuquerque. He lectured annually at UNM School of Law and was active in the NM and Albuquerque Bar Associations. He was the 1st President of the NM Trail Lawyers Association. He received a number of awards over the years, including the Albuquerque Bar Outstanding Judge award in 1997 and the NM Bar Pioneer award in 1998. In 2003 he received the Seth Montgomery Distinguished Judicial Service award from the State Bar of NM. In 2004, he received the Golden Gavel award from the National High School Mock Trial Championship, Inc. He was the chairman of the Client Protection Task Force of the NM Bar Association in 2009 and was inducted into the Anderson School of Management Hall of Fame in 2008. His history also includes: Staff Judge Advocate, NM Air Guard, Member of Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Bar Association. Chairman Interim Board of Ethics Co-Chairman NM Medical-Legal Board, Chairman Board of Trustees for Heights General Hospital, Member and Legal Counsel for the Board of Directors of Southwest Distributing Co. He was a member of the following: NM Bar Association, Albuquerque Bar Association, NM Trial Lawyers Association, American Board of Trial Advocates, NM American Inn of Court, Liaison Justice of Peofessionalism. After retiring from the NM Supreme Court on December 31, 2002, he continued his love of law by doing mediations and arbitrations. As an appellate justice, he authored over 160 and participated in over 425 published opinions.