April 21, 1981

They make an unlikely pair. Joseph R. Perella, age 39, tall, slender and dark, a son of immigrants, grew up in Newark, trained as an accountant, then entered investment banking at 30. Bruce Wasserstein, age 33, short, heavy-set and blond, graduated from the University of Michigan at 19, then earned degrees from the Harvard Law School, the Harvard Business School and Cambridge University. These two, as co-directors of the First Boston Corporation's merger and acquisition department, have helped put their company on the map as one of an elite group of tough, aggressive merger advisers.

The nation's economy grew in the first quarter of 1981 at an annual rate of 6.5 percent, a figure that was higher than most economists had expected. The economists divided over the impact of the figure, with some saying that the strong growth would damage chances for Congressional passage of the Administration's proposal to cut income taxes by 10 percent annually for three years. The tax cut is designed to stimulate economic growth. The advance in the ''real'' gross national product, the nation's total output of goods and services adjusted for inflation, was the biggest quarterly gain since the second quarter of 1978 and compared with an annual growth rate of just 3.8 percent in 1980's fourth quarter.

''I believe in the free market,'' Felix Rohatyn said one morning, sitting in his apartment 12 floors above Park Avenue. ''But I do not believe in laissez-faire.'' It was a lovely, assuring day. Mr. Rohatyn was breakfasting on dry toast, fresh juice and coffee. Outside, the handsome buildings along Park Avenue were awash with light in the splendid spring sun. It was a setting, perhaps, for a defense of American capitalism and an optimistic perspective on the American condition would be put forth. But no. Critical of Reagan Approach ''I do not believe that, at the end of the 20th century, in complicated, advanced industrial societies, that an absolute freemarket system exists or is desirable,'' Mr. Rohatyn said. ''If it does not exist, I do not think we should pretend we can cure the problems that we have with simply free-market solutions.''

The brief remarks of a mother whose daughter had been murdered eclipsed speeches by politicians and officials at a City Hall ceremony yesterday marking the opening of National Victim Rights Week. ''It is not just the pain of losing a loved one,'' Diana Montenegro said. ''I buried my daughter, but I cannot bury my anger and my pain. Time and again we see short-term sentences given to the criminals while we, the victims, serve lifetime sentences of fear, grief and violation.''

A chart on oil industry stocks in Busi- ness Day on Saturday gave incorrect percentage figures for performance changes. A corrected version appears on page D8.