Eileen Bransten, a former Supreme Court Commercial Division justice in Manhattan, known for her ability to cut through the most complex issues facing New York’s business and finance sectors and for breaking ground as one of the first female jurists to sit on one of the nation’s most vital business courts, has died.

Bransten, 79, died earlier this week from natural causes while sleeping, according her former law clerk, Saliann Scarpulla, who followed in her mentor’s footsteps, eventually also serving as a justice in Manhattan’s Commercial Division before later joining the Appellate Division, First Department court bench.