EXHIBIT 31.2


CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 (a) OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002


      I, John C. van Roden, Jr., Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
      Officer of P. H. Glatfelter Company, certify that:

      1.    I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
            December 31, 2003 of P.H. Glatfelter Company ("Glatfelter");

      2.    Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
            statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
            necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
            under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect
            to the period covered by this report;

      3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
            information included in this report, fairly present in all material
            respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
            flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in
            this report;

      4.    Glatfelter's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
            establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
            defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
            control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
            13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for Glatfelter and have:

(a)   Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
      disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to Glatfelter, including its
      consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
      entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being
      prepared;

(b)   Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such
      internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
      supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of
      financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
      external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
      principles;

(c)   Evaluated the effectiveness of Glatfelter's disclosure controls and
      procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
      effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of
      the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

(d)   Disclosed in this report any change in Glatfelter's internal control over
      financial reporting that occurred during Glatfelter's most recent fiscal
      quarter (the fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that
      has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
      Glatfelter's internal control over financial reporting; and

      5.    Glatfelter's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
            our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
            reporting, to Glatfelter's auditors and the audit committee of the
            Glatfelter's board of directors:

(a)   All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
      operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect Glatfelter's ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

(b)   Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
      employees who have a significant role in Glatfelter's internal control
      over financial reporting.

            Date: March 10, 2004        By: /s/ John C. van Roden, Jr.
                                            ------------------------------------
                                            John C. van Roden, Jr.
                                            Senior Vice President and Chief
                                              Financial Officer