KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Larry A. Kauffman, son of late Kansas City Royals owner Ewing M. Kauffman and a member of the team's Board of Directors, died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 51.

  Kauffman graduated in 1964 from Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Mo., and served for three years in the Army. He was in the construction business for nearly 15 years, and he owned an automotive parts and repair business in Peculiar, Mo., for seven years.

  He also owned and operated the K & E Baseball Academy in South Kansas City. The academy offers young people instruction in baseball and softball.

  Kauffman is survived by his wife Nancy, two sons, George and Corey, and two grown children from a previous marriage, John and Lisa,

  Funeral arrangements were not yet available.

  The team is in the midst of auctioning itself off. It hasn't had a permanent owner since 1993, when Ewing M. Kauffman died at age 76.

  ``It's not necessary to have the vacancy on the board filled for the sale process to move forward,'' said Dean Davison, spokesman for the Royals board.