Gary Winnick

Bel Air, Calif.

Gary Winnick, a pioneer who helped shape modern finance and the global telecommunication industry, passed away peacefully at his home in Bel Air on Saturday, November 4. He was 76 years old. Above all else, Mr. Winnick valued his family. He was also a passionate philanthropist who was generous with both his time and financial resources.

Gary Winnick was born in New York City in 1947 and raised on Long Island, NY. He spent time in Queens and graduated from Roslyn High School. Mr. Winnick was proud of his roots and gave generously to his alma mater, CW Post College (now LIU Post) in Brookville, New York. The Winnick Dining Hall at LIU Post pays homage to Mr. Winnick's family. His father Arnold and grandfather Jacob were both purveyors of restaurant supplies in the Lower East Side.

Mr. Winnick's father died suddenly when Mr. Winnick was 18 years old. This event profoundly shaped Mr. Winnick personally and professionally. Mr. Winnick graduated early from college, joined the National Guard, then immediately began to support himself by working at his brother-in-law's furniture business. As the financial industry began deregulating in the early 1970s, Mr. Winnick sought an opportunity to work on Wall Street. He received an opportunity to do that as an entry level retail broker at Burnham & Company.

In 1973, Burnham & Company became Drexel Burnham. In 1975, Mr. Winnick moved to Los Angeles with his wife and two young children to join Drexel's famed Beverly Hills office. There, Mr. Winnick helped reimagine "junk bonds" as high yield bonds, which he and his partners used to help young emerging companies build new telecom infrastructure like cable and wireless networks. High yield bonds, created and sold by Mr. Winnick, were used by smaller companies to buy larger ones and thus the leveraged buyout, or LBO, was born.

In 1986, Mr. Winnick left to start his own private equity firm. In 1996, Mr. Winnick realized that the emerging Internet could not realize its ambitions without a global telecom infrastructure to deliver it. From its small office in Beverly Hills, Mr. Winnick and his partners financed a submarine telecommunications cable between New York and London. It was wildly successful. Encouraged by this early success, Mr. Winnick founded Global Crossing, a global telecommunications network that delivered its services to 700 cities in 70 countries.

Mr. Winnick was an active philanthropist in the Jewish community. He preserved the memory of the Holocaust and promoted tolerance through his work with the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He was a founding supporter of Birthright Israel. Together with his wife Karen, they supported Hillel and many other organizations in the U.S. and Israel.

Mr. Winnick loved to share his passion for business and philanthropy with others including his children and his grandchildren. Mr. Winnick was a born storyteller and prided himself on being direct. He was fiercely loyal and his doggedness was legendary. He had a big heart and relished the opportunity to help those close to him during their most challenging times. Family members, friends, and business associates all came to rely on Mr. Winnick for these reasons. He was larger than life and will be missed dearly.

Mr. Winnick is survived by his wife of 51 years, Karen, his sons Adam (Jacqueline), Alexander (Lauren) and Matthew (Karen), as well as his eight grandchildren: Sophia, Jacob, Wesley, Myla, Benjamin, Sara, Teddy, and Max. Services will be held at Mount Sinai Memorial Park and Mortuaries on Tuesday, November 7th at 11 am.