Seconded. If this guy really wrote good stuff then this is a great learning opportunity. If you have some way to contact him even moreso. He may not be the type

Seconded. If this guy really wrote good stuff then this is a great learning opportunity. If you have some way to contact him even moreso. He may not be the type of person who can easily summarize or teach someone new to the codebase, but I bet if you read through it, got to know the problem and had specific questions about details of his approach, he would be more than able to discuss it with you. Often this kind of personality enjoys sharing their thoughts, they just don't enjoy spending lots of time getting someone up to speed from ground zero. But putting in the hours to grok the code might put you in a good position to have productive conversations.