The article is devoted to the activities of Vladimir Frantsevich Stanis, the second rector of the Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. He was a charismatic leader who enjoyed enormous authority among his colleagues and made a huge contribution to the development of this unique university. The article outlines the main stages of the biography of V.F. Stanis, his difficult life path from the participation in the Great Patriotic War to the work in public offices, as a result of which he gained vast experience in organizational and managerial work. The authors pay special attention to the diverse activities of V.F. Stanis in the position of the rector of the Peoples’ Friendship University which he held for more than 20 years (from 1970 to 1993) and note that it was during this period that his scientific and pedagogical potential and leadership talent were fully revealed. It is emphasized that thanks to his work with the personnel V.F. Stanis managed to ensure the creation of prominent scientific and methodological schools in various fields at the Peoples’ Friendship University. At the same time, both in the USSR and abroad there became especially famous not only scientific schools of natural sciences and humanities, but also original methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language and foreign languages, including oriental ones developed by the university teaching staff. Moreover, the rector actively developed other areas of the university’s activities: international relations, extracurricular work, which required deep knowledge of the history of foreign countries and understanding of the current political situation in them. The authors show that thanks to his enormous dedication and careful attitude towards the staff and students, V.F. Stanis managed to create an international team of the Peoples’ Friendship University of many thousands.