Exhibit 99.1
[Penn-America Group logo]
NEWS

For Release:         December 10, 2003

Contact:             Financial:          Joseph F. Morris
                                         Chief Financial Officer
                                         (215) 443-3612

                     Media:              David Kirk, APR
                                         (610) 792-3329

          Summary:  Penn-America Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNG) director, Paul
                    Simon, dies at 75.

         HATBORO PA (December 10, 2003) - Paul Simon,  75, a member of the board
of directors of Penn-America Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNG) since 1997 died yesterday in
Springfield,  IL following heart surgery. He was chairman of the company's board
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.

         Jon S. Saltzman, president and CEO said: "All of us are deeply saddened
by Paul's  death.  His  contributions  to our  company, and to our nation,  were
substantial." The company did not announce details of its plans to replace Simon
on its board.

         At the time of his  death,  Simon was  director  of the  Public  Policy
Institute  he founded at the law school of  Southern  Illinois  University.  His
distinguished political career began in 1954 when he was elected to the Illinois
state  legislature  where he served  for 22 years.  He was  elected  to the U.S.
Senate in 1984,  from which he retired in 1997. In reporting his death yesterday
the Associated Press said that Simon "who rose from crusading newspaper owner to
two-term U.S.  senator and presidential  aspirant" had "a strong  reputation for
honesty,  a politician who began disclosing his personal  finances in the 1950s.
He had the sober, straight-laced bearing of a Sunday school teacher and wrote 13
books."

         Penn-America Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNG) is a specialty  commercial property
and casualty  insurance  holding  company that markets and  underwrites  general
liability, commercial property and multi-peril insurance for small businesses in
small towns and rural areas through a select network of wholesale general agents
in the excess and surplus lines marketplace.

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Forward-Looking Information
Certain information included in this news release and other statements or
materials published or to be published by the company are not historical facts
but are forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, such matters
as anticipated financial performance, business prospects, technological
developments, new and existing products, expectations for market segment and
growth and similar matters. In connection with the "safe harbor" provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the company provides the
following cautionary remarks regarding important factors which, among others,
could cause the company's actual results and experience to differ materially
from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the company's
forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the
operations, performance, results of the company's business, and the other
matters referred to above include, but are not limited to: (1) risks inherent in
establishing loss and loss adjustment expense reserves; (2) uncertainties
relating to the financial ratings of the company's insurance subsidiaries; (3)
uncertainties relating to government and regulatory policies; (4) uncertainties
arising from the cyclical nature of the company's business; (5) changes in the
company's relationships with, and the capacity of, its general agents; (6) the
risk that the company's reinsurers may not be able to fulfill their obligations
to the company. For additional disclosure regarding potential risk factors,
refer to documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including the company's 2002 10-K.

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