Rav Meir Shapiro

Rav Meir Shapiro (March 3, 1887 - October 27, 1933), a Rosh Yeshiva and chasid known as the Lubliner Rav, is best know for founding Daf Yomi. He also conceived and oversaw the construction of the great Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, a yeshiva for Chasidic Poland, modeled after the great Lithuanian yeshivos.

Rav Shapiro's inspriation for Daf Yomi may very well originate from the following incident: When Rav Shapiro was a young boy, his mother told him to go learn since he hadn't done so yet that day. The young Reb Meir told his mother that it doesn't matter, he'll learn the next day. His mother replied "today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow!" The implication is that there will never be another today and if you don't learn today you've lost it, so it doesn't help to learn tomorrow for today.