In 2019, the faculty of applied mathematics - control processes celebrates its 50th anniversary. We believe, that the history of the faculty is written by certain people. The life and work of Vladimir Nikolaevich Starkov is one of the brightest examples. This article depicts him as a teacher and a scientist. His researches and scientific papers can be divided into three main areas: the study of convection currents and flows in the processes of heat exchange and hydrodynamics; mathematical modeling of various biological systems and natural phenomena; development of mathematical models of spacecraft motions in near-Earth orbits and in the Solar System. He also wrote excellent textbooks on complex variable theory and several special courses. Vladimir Nikolayevich was also the founder of the book of Proceedings of the conference “Control Processes and Stability”, which was first issued in 1998 and is published annually since then.