Exhibit 31.1

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


     I, Michael H. Lee, certify that:

     1.   I have reviewed the Quarterly Report of Tower Group, Inc. (the
          "Company") on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2004 as
          filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof
          (the "Report");


     2.   Based on my knowledge, the 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 the Report;


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


     4.   The Company's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
          establishing and maintaining discloser controls and procedures (as
          defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Company
          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 the
               Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
               to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
               period in which the Report is being prepared;


          (b)  evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls
               and procedures and presented in the Report our conclusions about
               the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
               of the end of the period covered by the Report based on such
               evaluation; and


          (c)  disclosed in the Report that there were no changes in the
               Company's internal control over financial reporting that occurred
               during the Company's third quarter of 2004 that has materially
               affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the
               Company's internal control over financial reporting; and


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

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          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 the Company'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 the Company's
               internal control over financial reporting.


/s/ Michael H. Lee

Michael H. Lee
Chief Executive Officer
November 15, 2004