Stanley graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station, Tx, with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate and was commissioned into the Regular Army. He attended Airborne and Ranger Schools while serving in the U. S. Army. He was President of Gross Builders and Executive Vice President of Monumental Properties before founding Property Commerce in 1976.

He has served as a Deacon in Second Baptist Church and was Chairman of the Building Committee of Second Baptist’s Woodway Worship Center. He was a member of the Board of Visitors at Texas A&M University in Galveston and currently serves as a Trustee of the Joella and Stewart Morris Foundation.