Gail Wynand
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Gail Wynand is a major character in Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead. He is a newspaper and real estate mogul who worked his way up from extreme poverty in Hell's Kitchen. The crown-jewel of his empire is The Banner, based in New York City. The Banner is tremendously popular, and is of sleazy, tabloid quality.
Gail Wynand is described in the book as a man who wanted nothing but power. He admits this. Unfortunately, this marks him as a "second hander" according to Rand. He ultimately finds out that he had no power, and that giving in to the public whim - giving the public what he thinks it wants - was a tragic waste of his life.
Later in the novel, Wynand meets with Howard Roark, who is the hero of the novel. Wynand sees Roark as a man of extraordinary integrity, and tries to break Roark's spirit; Wynand fails miserably and the two become close friends. Roark becomes the designer of Wynand's home, and the woman Roark loves, Dominique Francon, becomes Wynand's wife for a time.
The reason why Wynand wanted to break Roark's spirit was that Wynand has become jaded in his view of people, and did not believe that men of integrity existed before meeting Howard Roark. Before, he would relish the sight of men breaking under his pressure.
Ultimately, it is Wynand's desire for power that becomes his undoing. Ellsworth Toohey, Wynand's star writer, stirs up a furor over Roark being the destroyer of Courtland Homes. Courtland Homes was a housing project that Roark had originally designed, but was essentially defaced by other "second handers" who wanted to compromise on its design. It is Toohey, not Wynand, who now has the power, and Wynand is forced to recant his position supporting Roark. Wynand ultimately closes The Banner - that which was his life's work. At the end of the novel, Wynand commissions Roark to design the Wynand Building, which is to be the tallest building in the city, and will house the remainder of Wynand's empire.
It should be noted that, in the novel, Gail Wynand is never heard from again after commissioning Roark to do the Wynand Building. In the movie version of the book (with the screenplay by Rand herself) Gail Wynand shoots himself after signing Roark to the commission.