Gary Winnick (October 13, 1947 – November 4, 2023) was an American billionaire businessman, industrialist, and investment banker. He served as the chairman and CEO of Winnick & Company, a private equity firm that he originally established as Pacific Capital Group in 1985. In 2020, he established WCO Spectrum, a company that invests in wireless spectrum licenses in the United States.

Winnick was raised in a Jewish family on Long Island, New York. He is the son of Blanche and Arnold Winnick.

Winnick's first business was a snow-removal operation, which he ran when he was 12 years of age. He employed other children in his neighborhood to clear local roads and driveways.

Winnick attended public schools on Long Island and graduated from Roslyn High School in Roslyn, New York in 1965. He attended C.W. Post College, part of Long Island University, graduating in 1969.

Winnick's first job in financial services was as a bond salesman with Drexel Burnham Lambert. In 1978, he joined the staff of Michael Milken at Drexel's high-yield bond operation in California. He was head of the convertible desk.

Winnick's work at Drexel provided initial capital and mid-cap financing to new U.S. companies in the fields of telecommunications, healthcare and gaming. Winnick is also credited with proposing the design of the California unit's X-shaped trading desk in Beverly Hills.^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, Winnick founded a private equity firm.

In 1996, Winnick formed a partnership with the AFL-CIO that was responsible for reviving the stalled Playa Vista development in Los Angeles, a large planned community on the Westside of Los Angeles.