We address the partial realization problem for linear descriptor systems.
A general solution to this problem using the Markov
parameters of the system defined via its Laurent series is provided.
For proper descriptor systems, we also discuss a numerically feasible
algorithm for computing a partial minimal realization based on the
unsymmetric Lanczos process. Applications to model reduction for two
examples from computational fluid dynamics and mechanical systems with
holonomic constraints are also given.