The May Department Stores Company     41
**Exhibit 31.2**
Certification
I, Thomas D. Fingleton, certify that:
1.  I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-K of The May Department Stores Company; 2.  Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a materialfact or omit to state a material fact necessary to makethe statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, notmisleading with respect to the period covered by this report; 3.  Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information includedin this report, fairly present in all material respectsthe financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for,the periods presented in this report; 4.  The registrant’s other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing andmaintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined inExchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (asdefined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:
 a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controlsand procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including itsconsolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by otherswithin those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is beingprepared;  b)  Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internalcontrol over financial reporting to be designed under oursupervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financialreporting and the preparation of financial statements forexternal purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;  c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and proceduresand presented in this report our conclusions about theeffectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period coveredby this report based on such evaluation; and  d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control overfinancial reporting that occurred during the registrant’s fourth fiscalquarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and
5.  The registrant’s other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recentevaluation of internal control over financial reporting,to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of theregistrant’s board of directors (orpersons performing the equivalent functions):
 a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation ofinternal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize andreport financial information; and  b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees whohave a significant role in the registrant’s internalcontrol over financial reporting.       Date: March 25, 2005 /s/ Thomas D. Fingleton           Thomas D. Fingleton