Inference from a funeral passage

“His life was divided between the books, his friends, and long walks. A solitary man, he worked at all hours without much method, and probably courted his fatal illness in this way. To his own name there is not much to show; but such was his liberality that he was continually helping others, and fruits of his erudition are widely scattered, and have gone to increase many a comparative stranger’s reputation.” (From E.V. Lucas’s “A Funeral”) Based only on the information provided in the above passage, which one of the following statements is true?