Global TV has pushed back the debut of its daily game show Brain Battle following the death of producer Rick Pyman, who was killed Monday near Toronto. The founder and president of Pyman Studios was struck by a car while helping victims of a traffic mishap during whiteout conditions in Halton Hills, just west of Toronto. He was 49.

‘It’s hit us quite hard because we’re such a small company and he was intrinsic to our day-to-day operations,’ Pyman Studios VP Chris Priess tells Playback Daily.

At the time of his death, Pyman was in the process of launching Brain Battle, a new one-hour game show for Global, which was set to begin airing March 19. It has been put on hold for a week and will instead air on March 26.

‘The network has graciously allowed us another week before we go on air,’ says Priess, adding that the outpouring of support has been surprising. ‘We got e-mails not only from colleagues and clients but also from competitors, which says a lot about the impression the man has made.’

Pyman started his production company in 1983, and produced primarily sports and lifestyle programming such as Score Golf TV with Bob Weeks, the half-hour hockey series Inside the AHL (formerly Rinkside) for Rogers Sportsnet and Leafs TV, the APTN series Cooking with the Wolfman, and the live-action series Game Gurus for YTV.

Pyman Studios is also the parent company of Tri-Lite TV, a broadcast facility provider, and digital channel Bite TV.

Pyman is survived by his wife and two sons.