Kauffman, Owner of Royals, Dies of Cancer at 76 : Baseball: At his wife’s urging, he bought the expansion team, which began play in 1969.

Ewing M. Kauffman, the self-made billionaire who founded the Kansas City Royals, died in his sleep overnight, the team said Sunday. He was 76 and had announced on May 19 that he had bone cancer.

Kauffman, known to many in baseball as “Mr. K,” died at home.

Kauffman was too ill to attend a July 2 ceremony at which Royals Stadium was renamed Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium. His wife, Muriel, attended in his place.

“He said he never wanted anything named after him that had bricks and mortar,” she said at the dedication. “I told him, ‘There’s a baseball diamond there, dear.’ ”

At his wife’s urging, Kauffman bought the expansion Royals, who began play in 1969. The Royals won their first American League West title in 1976, and went on to win the 1980 AL pennant and the 1985 World Series.

Kauffman’s fortune began when he accumulated almost $46,000 in poker winnings during World War II and, in 1950, gambled it on his own pharmaceutical company, begun in his garage.

When his Marion Laboratories merged with Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals in 1989, the value of Kauffman’s stock was estimated at $1.3 billion.

Kauffman’s later years were devoted to the Royals and to charity.