In Odesa, yet another street has undergone a name change. Pestel Street in the Khadyzhbey district is now renamed after Simon Litman, one of the founders of global marketing education. This decision was announced by the Odesa City Council.

Who is being honored

Pestel Street has been renamed to Simon Litman Street, allowing the city to pay tribute to the remarkable economist and one of the early theorists of marketing worldwide. Simon Litman was born in Odesa in 1873 and was educated at the Odesa Commercial School, now known as the Odesa National Economic University. After emigrating to the USA, he became the first marketing instructor in American higher education.

In 1911, he published the work "Trade and Commerce," one of the earliest textbooks on marketing in the world. Litman taught at the University of California and the University of Illinois, and his lectures laid the foundation for modern business education programs in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Japan. He was the first to define marketing as a distinct science, focusing not just on sales but on understanding people's needs, communication, and trust. His approach has become the cornerstone of what is now known as customer-oriented business.