The 24-year-old stepbrother of "Hills" star Heidi Montag died in an accident at a Colorado hotel where he was working.

Eric O'Hara, who had just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division for the past three years, died Thursday after he fell off the icy roof of the Steamboat Grand Resort Hotel.

"Losing my brother, at an early age, is such a tragedy," said Montag, who is related to O'Hara because her father, Bill, married O'Hara's mom when Heidi was just seven. "I just loved him more than anything. He was just so patriotic. He really wanted to go to Iraq and help and do all that he could for his country. He felt like it was his duty. I'll really miss him."

O'Hara's uncle, Dave Patston, was quoted by Rocky Mountain News, which broke the news, as saying: "Having made it through 15 months in Iraq, and then to have this happen...it's really tough."

"Everyone loved him . . . I never met a person who did not love him," said his grandmother, Dolores Spurgeon. "His colonel called . . . and told his mother - my daughter - that Eric was the most remarkable young man he'd ever worked with, a born leader."

"Eric was Airborne," his stepfather, Bill Montag, said Sunday. Commanding officers and members of an honor guard are coming from Seattle, Boston, New York City and other places to attend his services in Colorado this week. A memorial service is scheduled at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Sheraton Hotel in Steamboat, with burial tentatively planned for 1 p.m. Thursday at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

O'Hara is survived by his parents, two sisters and stepsisters.