The article is dedicated to the outstanding Russian lexicographer Sergey Ivanovich Ozhegov, the creator of the famous one-volume normative «Dictionary of the Russian Language». The article reflects the life of the scholar; describes his personality; presents his work with the team of D. N. Ushakov on the preparation of the «Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language»; considers the main ideas of the scholar, which formed the basis of the «Small Explanatory Dictionary»; characterizes his practical activity in solving the problems of norm codification of the Russian literary language.