This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic.

In early March, Dr. Roberto Stella, a general practitioner in a town near Milan, told a colleague that the medical staff at his practice had run out of face masks and gloves.

“We’re not stopping,” he said. “We’re being careful and pressing on.”

Dr. Stella died on March 11, the first doctor known to have succumbed to the virus in Italy, Dr. Marco Cambielli, a colleague, said. “The first of many,” he added. Dr. Stella was 67.

Dr. Stella lived in Busto Arsizio, 20 miles northwest of Milan in Lombardy, the Italian region that has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. His death made headlines and was a grim reminder that health care workers are among those at greatest risk. At least 66 Italian doctors have died of the virus through March, and thousands of health care workers have been infected.

“Busto salutes you and above all thanks you; your example won’t be forgotten,” Mayor Emanuele Antonelli wrote that day on his Facebook page. The post received more than 300 comments, many from patients praising Dr. Stella’s bedside manner.