At Home With Sandra and Henny den Uijl

Sandra den Uijl greets Ranch & Coast in the foyer of the sunny, Mediterranean-style home in Rancho Santa Fe that she shares with her husband, Henny, and two rescue dogs, Tatia and Percy. Sandra, whose roots are both in the United States and Mexico, and Henny, who was born in the Netherlands, are generous and active philanthropists, known for a variety of causes. They bought their expansive, six-bedroom home a year ago, which includes a game room, home theatre, massage room, office, guest house, and backyard with a vanishing edge pool. Although Henny was out of town during our photo shoot, Sandra was happy to show us around their art-filled abode tucked off a winding road, and to talk about their shared passions.

Last fall, the nonprofit San Diego Nice Guys honored Sandra as 2023 Nice Guy of the Year at the organization’s 43rd annual gala for her charitable contributions and commitment to many causes. For ten years, she helped to raise crucial funds for Rady Children’s Hospital as a member and president of the Rancho Santa Fe unit of the hospital’s auxiliary. In 2018, Sandra and a group of friends were having tea one day at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar when they decided to establish the Tea3 Foundation, to give their “time, talent, and treasure” to benefit worthy causes with an emphasis on military families, children, and animals. 

Beneficiaries have included United Through Reading, which connects deployed service members with their children through video recordings of story time, and Shelter to Soldier, which provides psychiatric service animals to veterans. The Tea3 Foundation has also supported the Armed Services YMCA, The Randy Jones Foundation, San Pasqual Academy, Just in Time for Foster Youth, Camps for Kids, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

The foundation raises funds through galas, golf tournaments, sip-and-shop events, fashion shows, a “dueling pianos” concert, and “Do You Think We Can Dance?,” a dance contest pairing amateurs with Arthur Murray pros. By the way, the den Uijls are both ballroom dancers, competing in contests around
the world.

In their home, the “grand room,” as Sandra calls it, is a large open space off the foyer that serves as a living room and entertainment area. There’s a player piano but no television. One wall is centered by a massive fireplace hung with an oil painting of Sandra on her wedding day, a gift from Henny to his bride. She says her husband’s “pride and joy” is an antique cabinet next to the fireplace, filled with rare tequila in beautiful, fanciful bottles, many of them gifts from friends over the years. On the other side of the fireplace, a door leads to the wine room which has sections for whites and champagne, reds, and prized tequila. The home is filled with Mexican art including Reflections, a six-foot-three statue by Sergio Bustamante. 

Sandra, who was born in Brownsville, Texas to an American mother and Mexican father, was raised mostly in Guadalajara, where her family ran a prosperous business producing and selling hybrid grains to growers. (Her father was an accountant who later studied agricultural engineering at UC Davis where the family lived for four years.) Back in Mexico, Sandra became a certified public accountant, got a master’s degree in Mexican taxation, and became a professor of accounting and taxation at her alma mater, a private university.

Henny, whose last name “Uijl” means “owl” in Dutch, moved to San Diego from the Netherlands in 1980. He has a master’s degree in floriculture and ran flower farms in Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Rosarito Beach. When Sandra’s father wanted to add flowers to his export business, Henny brought product in refrigerated trucks to Mexico, and later asked Sandra to be his tour guide. It was soon a “marriage made in agriculture heaven,” she says with a laugh. She moved to the United States, where the couple raised a blended family of four boys, now all in their thirties. Sandra had a high profile career in finance before retiring to devote more time to her family and philanthropy. Her husband and son, Edgar, now produce informercials.

Longtime residents of Rancho Santa Fe, Henny plays golf at the local club, and the couple frequents Lilian’s at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, Mille Fleurs, Nick and G’s, and The Bistro.